The decision by the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, to extend Mr. Anthony Boateng’s post-retirement contract as Deputy Director General of Education (Management Services) for a third time upon a request by the Minister for Education, Hon. Yaw Adutum, has been greeted with mass disappointment by teachers, teacher unions and Ghanaians at large, for good reasons.
The attempt to justify this needless contract extension by suggesting that Mr. Boateng’s skills are in short supply and are unavoidably needed is simply dishonest.
How can anyone expect us to believe that among hundreds of experts and professionals in education, it is only Mr. Boateng who can serve as the Deputy Director General – Management Services, and oversee the establishment of the National Education Institute? Is it rocket science?
Are we to believe that Mr. Boateng has been working alone all this while, and so no one can step in to continue from where he left off? I am certain that Mr. Boateng himself knows that the extension of his post-retirement contract for a third time is not justified. Therefore, if the Presidency wouldn’t do the needful by withdrawing his appointment, he should demonstrate raw courage and high integrity by declining.
Sources tell us Mr. Boateng is confused as to whether to accept or not accept this unwholesome extension of his contract. The self doubt is occasioned by the fact that he fully handed over and is aware that the GES Council is not in favour of his contract extension. Simply put, his absence will not do any irreparable damage to the GES or affect the establishment of the National Education Institute.
Word is that Mr. Anthony Boateng indicated that he was not interested in extending his stay and this was formally communicated to the GES Council. Subsequently, his notice of retirement letter was signed to enable him to start processing his SSNIT benefits. And he is reported to have handed over on August 16, 2022.
It is therefore strange that he was offered an extension, which was not requested for by the GES, which ought to have made the case. More interestingly, the request for extension did not go through the right procedure. Procedurally, the request for extension should be from the Director-General of GES to the GES Council, to the President through the Minister for Education.
In fact, two years ago, that was the procedure used to grant him a one-year extension. Last year the request for an extension was made directly to the Minister for another one-year extension because the GES Council had not been constituted after the election. So why was the procedure circumvented in this recent extension when the GES Council is in place? Was the Minister afraid the GES Council would decline to approve a request for this third and unjustified extension?
As a matter of record, this is the third post-retirement contract extension being granted Mr. Boateng. The first extension was from August 2020-August 2021. The second extension was from August 2021-August 2022. And now, a third one has been secured through circumventing all the laid down procedures. Checks indicate that Mr. Anthony Boateng should originally have retired in 2014. How he managed to stay on to retire in 2020, and went on to get three post-retirement contracts is a matter for another day.
I call on the Presidency to withdraw the unjustified extension of Mr. Boateng’s post-retirement contract. If the Presidency fails to do so, Mr. Boateng himself, reportedly in a dilemma, should do the needful by declining the questionable contract extension granted him. I urge him, as the teacher unions have, to decline in the public interest. Mr. Boateng has obviously benefitted enormously from the state, and should demonstrate patriotism by moving on.
Dr. Clement Abas Apaak
M.P, Builsa South and Deputy Ranking Member On Education Committee of Parliament
