President John Dramani Mahama has come under criticism for redirecting traffic from the official website of the Presidency to the private website of the president.
Following the president’s investiture on Tuesday, January 7, 2025, some critics noticed the redirection of traffic from the domain of the seat of government, presidency.gov.gh, to the private website of the president, johnmahama.org.
While no official communication has been issued to justify the act, some critics raised concerns about security, administrative, and legal implications.
“The official Government of Ghana Presidency domain, presidency.gov.gh, has been redirected to point to President John Dramani Mahama‘s campaign website, johnmahama.org.
“This is pretty unfortunate and flies against everything that is administratively proper. In fact, this offends our national security strategy, if not several laws.
“That website, as well as the Presidency’s official social media handles, form part of what is referred to as Critical National Information Infrastructure,” private legal practitioner and convenor of the Fix the Country Movement, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, expressed on his Facebook on Friday, January 10, 2025.
According to the activist, the seeming oversight by the government confirms the need for the Office of Legal Counsel to the President to scrutinize and approve all actions of the presidency to ensure conformity with law, policy, practice, and procedure.
“You cannot under any circumstance decamp the party onto critical national information systems. No! No! No! I am inclined to think whoever is behind this is unaware of the security impropriety of this act. But still, it couldn’t have been done without someone having access to the backend of the Government domain and even a sign-off by someone who should have known better.
“This is why there is an Office of the Legal Counsel to the President. Get legal advice before you do anything. Cross-check three times. When Raymond Atuguba was Executive Secretary, no minute decision was ever taken unless it was cross-checked at least three times to make sure it didn’t offend any law, policy, practice, or procedure. It’s a huge learning curve, the Presidency. But let administrative protocols be your guide,” he stated.
Barker-Vormawor demanded an investigation into the issue and an apology from the Presidency.
The government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addoended on January 6, 2024, paving the way for John Dramani Mahama‘s government, which took over on January 7.
The website of the presidency in Ghana is a critical governance infrastructure that enhances transparency, communication, and public engagement.
The government of John Mahama, which hit the ground running, has issued some critical decisions, such as the announcement of the president’s nominees for the ministers for finance, attorney general, and energy.
Meanwhile, the president’s private website, where traffic from the presidency’s website is redirected to, served as his campaign website and is currently inundated with details such as his biography, manifesto, news updates, and statements.
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