Workers of the Lands Commission are fuming over the reported renewal of the contract of the Executive Secretary of the Commission by President Akufo-Addo.
Alhaji Daud Sulemana Mahama was appointed as the Executive Secretary of the Commission in August 2018 on a two-year contract upon reaching the retirement age of 60 years.
His contract ended in August 2020 and was asked to serve as the Acting Executive Secretary of the Lands Commission for one year. Mr Sulemana Mahama will be 63 years this year and sources say he has been given another two-year contract.
The development has angered workers at the Lands Commission who have threatened a showdown if the President does not rescind the decision.
The workers in May 2020 opposed the appointment of the Acting Executive Secretary due to what they claimed was the complexity and convoluted nature of land issues which they say required the attention of someone who was not retiring but in active service.
A year after the workers registered their protest, sources at the Jubilee House say Mr Sulemana Mahama has been reappointed to head the Lands Commission for another two years.
“The President can’t do that to us because this man since his appointment has created many problems at the Lands Commission,” a worker noted on condition on anonymity.
He added that: “no Executive Secretary of the Lands Commission has divided the workers front than Mr Sulemana Mahama.”
A female worker said: “The Executive Secretary has created a certain impression to people at the corridors of power that there are some mafias, vampires, and principalities at the Lands Commission but that is inaccurate. Indeed anyone familiar with developments here will be shocked to learn how things have been under him”
According to her “records at the courts will show that there are 1000 of cases at the courts which have resulted and continue to result in huge judgment debts against the state. In some cases, assets of Lands commission have been garnisheed”
She added that: “What the commission needs is a total overhaul and a personality like our current boss does not represent the required change the Lands Commission needs.”
