BY Issah Olegor
President John Dramani Mahama has ordered a major shake-up of the National Security Council Secretariat, bringing experienced military, intelligence and police officers into strategic positions in a move that has exposed growing concerns in the country.
The shake up is also involved the relieving of some operatives for unnamed reasons.
However sources said some of the operatives are suspected to be involved in dubious deals covering oil, galamsey gold and drugs.
The president is particularly not happy with recent arrest of alleged drug dealers and galamsey operators involving operatives.
The reorganisation, announced by Government Communications at the Presidency on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, takes immediate effect and affects some of the most important operational, intelligence and investigative positions within Ghana’s national security architecture.
Sources familiar with the developments say the changes are aimed at strengthening a security structure that has increasingly come under criticism over weak coordination and the inability of the current leadership to effectively command the attention and cooperation of senior security officials.
At the centre of the concerns is the current National Security Coordinator, COP Osman Abdul Razak, whose leadership of the Secretariat has reportedly come under increasing scrutiny within the Presidency.
Sources say Razak has largely operated from the Yellow House at Roman Ridge instead of the Blue Gate with concerns about his regular presence at the office and his ability to coordinate the various security agencies under the national security structure.
The situation, according to the sources, became particularly apparent during meetings convened by the National Security Coordinator, where some senior security commanders reportedly failed to attend personally and instead delegated representatives.
The development is said to have raised questions about the authority of the National Security Coordinator and the extent to which the various security agencies were responding to his coordination.
It is against this background that President Mahama has now moved to inject experienced hands into key positions within the Secretariat.
The most politically significant appointment is that of Maj. General (Rtd) William Ayamdo, former Chief of Army Staff, who has been appointed Deputy National Security Coordinator in charge of Operations.
General Ayamdo served as Chief of Army Staff during the Akufo-Addo administration and brings decades of military and operational experience to the national security establishment.
His appointment under President Mahama is particularly notable because the former Army Chief served under the previous New Patriotic Party government. His return to a senior operational security position suggests that he was politically aligned to the current NDC administration.
The new arrangement also brings back another experienced security figure, Yaw Donkor, a former National Security Coordinator and BNI chief, who has been reassigned as Director of Intelligence and Research at the Office of the National Security Advisor.
Yaw Donkor’s new responsibility places him at the centre of intelligence assessment and research, areas considered critical to the President’s ability to anticipate security threats and make informed national security decisions.
Other changes include the appointment of Adamu Saaka as Director of Logistics and Transport, while Faustina Effah-Boadi has been appointed Officer in Charge of the Human Security Department.
Effah-Boadi’s appointment has also generated political interest because of her involvement in the governing National Democratic Congress. She has been associated with the party’s internal political activities and was preparing to contest for the position of NDC National Women’s Organiser.
Her appointment to the Human Security Department effectively places her in a strategic national security position at a time when the NDC’s internal elections and political restructuring are also gaining momentum.
Faustina is a Board member of Ghana Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending Ltd. (GIRSAL)
The new structure further assigns DCOP (Rtd.) Peter Ndekugri as Officer in Charge of the Special Investigations Unit, strengthening the investigative component of the Secretariat.
That position was created by Razak and put his brother ACP Alhassan Osman in charge.
President Mahama has ordered ACP Alhassan Osman to return to the police administration to be reassigned.
The reassignment of ACP Osman is attracting attention within security circles because of his close relationship with the National Security Coordinator Razak Oisman. The two are brothers, making his removal another notable feature of the restructuring.
The changes therefore go beyond routine staff movements. They represent a significant redistribution of experience and responsibility within the security establishment at a time when the Presidency is under pressure to ensure stronger coordination among the country’s intelligence, military and law-enforcement institutions.
The latest changes could therefore be interpreted as President Mahama’s attempt to regain tighter control over the security architecture and ensure that the Presidency has experienced officials capable of translating political directives into effective security coordination.
