The Minister of Information and spokesperson for the outgoing government's transition team, Fatima Abubakar, says she sees nothing wrong with the various government appointees who have received this year’s State Honour Awards.

Outgoing President Nana Akufo-Addo has conferred the State Honour Awards on some of his government officials, as well as some non-partisan or independent individuals. Following this, many Ghanaians have criticized the president for awarding honours to his cronies rather than those who truly deserve them.

Read also: Full list of recipients at 2024 National Honours Awards

Speaking on JoyNews' Newsfile, the Information Minister said, “So far, those (Ministers) I have spoken to didn’t nominate themselves. Their names were included in the nominations that came from their respective centres.”

She explained that JoyNews’ Erastus Asare, who was also honoured, was nominated by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), providing clear evidence that the president did not manipulate the nominations by awarding his loyalists.

“He (Erastus Asare Donkoh) was nominated by the Ghana Journalists Association, and the president felt it was important. If this is what the GJA wants, it is not a presidential award; it’s a national award,” she said.

She emphasized, “I didn’t find anything wrong with that.”

It could be recalled that the National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, criticized the president for awarding the outgoing Member of Parliament for Awutu Senya East and Fisheries Minister, Mavis Hawa Koomson.

Read also: State awards are for people of distinction, not someone like Hawa Koomson – Asiedu Nketia

Fatima Abubakar disagreed with the critics, asserting that the various ministers who benefited from the awards deserved them.