President John Evans Atta Mills has relieved his right-hand man Koku Anyidoho of his duties at the presidency, although in a veiled fashion.

The action came in the wake of perhaps the most outrageous gaffes by the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Koku Anyidoho, when he, as it were, sacked the Ashanti Regional Director of the Electricity of Ghana (ECG).

A statement from the Chief of Staff at the Presidency, John Henry Martey Newman, which fell short of stating that the gentleman had been sacked, directed that announcements from the presidency should be disregarded if these did not emanate from the office of the Chief of Staff or the President’s Secretary.

In effect, those functions, which before this action were performed by Mr Anyidoho, had been transferred to the Chief of Staff or the Secretary of the President.

The statement, which was released last Saturday, read in part, “The Office of the President wishes to state that all directives and decisions emanating from the Presidency including appointments, are communicated formally and signed by the Secretary to the President or in some instances by the Chief of Staff.”

Continuing, it read, “All other Government information is communicated through the Ministry of Information by Press Release or other means and in some cases where appropriate, by the relevant sector Ministries, under the direction of the Minister-in-charge.”
It said, “The Office of the President wishes the Media and General Public to be guided by these procedures and channels for communicating Government information.”