Minister of Employment and Social Welfare Enoch Teye Mensah has sued the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG) in an Accra Fast Track High Court for alleging at a press conference that he was planning to ‘shit-bomb’ the association’s offices.
The Minister has also sued DAILY GUIDE for being among the several media houses that were invited to the press conference and published contents of the press statement issued by CLOGSAG. The Minister’s denial and side of the story had been carried in the same publication.
Multi-Media Limited, owners of Joy Fm, has also been sued by the minister for publishing DAILY GUIDE’s story on the CLOGSAG press conference on their website.
Edward Tennyson Foli, acting president of CLOGSAG, is the first defendant in the suit, while Western Publications, publishers of DAILY GUIDE, Fortune Alimi, the paper’s editor and Multi-Media Limited, proprietors of Joy FM are the second, third and fourth defendants respectively.
His lawyer is National Democratic Congress (NDC) activist David Annan.
At the press conference, CLOGSAG told journalists that E.T Mensah had shown them extreme disrespect during negotiations on the Single Spine Salary Structure and that they were very angry with the minister because he had described them as a pack of “retired, old fashioned and blockhead officers” belonging to an association that “was formed with funding from the New Patriotic Party.”
So angry were the leaders of the association that they vowed to stop all negotiations with the minister and called on their members to embark on daily nationwide demonstrations from Tuesday August 24 to Friday August 27, which they did until the National Security Advisor, Lt. Col. Larry Gbevlo-Lartey (rtd) brokered a truce. CLOGSAG also alleged that Mr. Mensah was plotting to ‘shit bomb’ their offices.
“We have been told by the very persons he is plotting with and we are not surprised because that is his stock-in-trade.
We are ready for him and as we said in the press statement, we have bought disinfectants like Detol and ‘akeshaa’ to clean up the place.
He cannot scare us with his shot bomb tactics,” the leadership of CLOGSAG noted after addressing a very agitated news conference.
When DAILY GUIDE contacted the minister for his side of the story, he sounded rather unperturbed and said he would not be distracted by CLOGSAG.
“What they are saying is nothing but a pack of lies against me and because this matter is before the Labour Commission, I do not want to comment on it or glorify them with a response because there is work for me to do.
“All I would say is that I would not be distracted and I want to remain focused. Are they saying they are happy with themselves that out of 103 associations, 102 are working with us except them? Look, the train has taken off and they better join rather than try to bring government to its knees,” Mr. Mensah said.
Days after the press conference, CLOGSAG members embarked on daily demonstrations, during which they wore red bands and carried placards with anti-E.T Mensah inscriptions. National Security eventually intervened and got the CLOGSAG leadership to call off the street protests so the issue could be addressed through dialogue.
