A governance expert in the Volta Region, Mr Nicholas Gborse, has called on President John Dramani Mahama to dismiss appointees who have failed to declare their assets within the stipulated period.

According to him, the appointees’ inability to declare their assets is a clear indication of disrespect and disobedience.

Mr Gborse, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, expressed surprise about why the appointees could find it difficult to declare their assets and questioned whether they were unaware of their personal assets or if it was a total refusal to obey the president’s directive, which showed lack of respect and a way of hiding something important from the public.

“The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has numerous competent individuals who could hold similar positions, and those who do not want to obey the President should be allowed to leave for others to replace them,” he said.

Mr Gborse urged President Mahama to give the appointees a grace period of two to three weeks to comply with the directive, with the warning that any further refusal should result in total dismissal and replacement immediately.

The governance expert cautioned that the disobedience of prominent personnel could be used against the party in the next general election by opposition parties and called for urgent redress by the party to avoid such situations and take decisive action.

He said the call for accountability highlighted the importance of transparency and obedience in government appointments, and the president must take action against disobedient appointees to demonstrate his commitment to accountability and good governance.

“The President’s directive for appointees to declare their assets was issued in January, with a deadline set for the end of March, and all appointees should have adhered to the directive and met the deadline.”

He said the party’s reputation could be impacted if the disobedient appointees are not held accountable and warned them to act and demonstrate their commitment to accountability, transparency, and progressive governance.

He said the way forward was clear, and “President Mahama should give the appointees a final ultimatum to comply with the directive. If they fail to do so, they should be dismissed and replaced with competent individuals who will obey the President’s directives.”

Meanwhile, reports gathered by GNA revealed that government appointees, which include Nathan Kofi Boakye, Director of Operations at the Presidency; Mr Seth Emmanuel Terkper, Presidential Adviser on the Economy; Nana Yaa Jantuah, Presidential Staffer; Charles Kipo, Director General of the National Investigations Bureau, among others, have defaulted on the directives.