Dr Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah is a government analyst

Dr Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah, a governance analyst and lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School, has stated that President John Dramani Mahama should not be blamed for the appointment and subsequent revocation of Anne Sansa Daly, whose medical credentials have come under public scrutiny.

Speaking exclusively in an interview with GhanaWeb’s Mandy Agyemang on June 1, 2025, Dr Otchere-Ankrah explained that although the president holds the appointing authority, the names of nominees are submitted to him by other individuals.

He added that those who put forward these nominations are expected to conduct thorough due diligence and background checks to verify the authenticity of the nominees’ credentials before presenting them to the president for approval.

“I have said somewhere on another platform that you can't blame the president. How do you blame the president when these names are submitted by individuals, societies and by groups?

“If the government wants to give an appointment to anybody, they will simply have to give the person's details to National Security, and they can do a thorough job. So, I can say from hindsight that due diligence was not done,” he said.

Dr Otchere-Ankrah further noted that the president, though solely responsible for appointing individuals to high-level institutions and boards, may not personally know all the nominees.

He argued that those who nominated Anne Sansa Daly and submitted her name to the president for appointment should rather be held accountable and face the necessary consequences.

“Several people have got interest in this thing, so, party members and party executives will bring names and say ‘president, these are those who helped us so we want them appointed’ and so, the president may not know,” he indicated.

He continued, “Look, the president alone has got the authority to appoint over 1,500 people. Do we sincerely think that the president knows even up to half of those people he appoints? Certainly not, so, it is first of all those who nominated her, those who brought her name up, who perhaps did not know much about her or failed to have known better, they didn't do their work well.”

MAG/AE

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