Jamal & Boateng are not moving an inch –NDC Gen. Sec

By Susan Dapaah

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has thrown its full weight behind two Deputy Ministers in the Mills government, Baba Jamal and James Agyenim- Boateng, rejecting calls from certain quarters that they should be dismissed from office for recent comments they have made.

“Neither Baba Jamal nor James Agyenim-Boateng is moving an inch from their position. They remain Minsters of State and they will remain Ministers of State until the President decides otherwise” the party’s General- Secretary, Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, told the Daily Post in an interview at the party’s headquarters yesterday.

Defending the stance of the party, Mr. Asiedu Nketia, a.k.a.General Mosquito, held that Nana Akomea’s reaction on the Newsfile programme of Joy FM to the comments made by the Deputy Minister of Tourism, James Agyenim-Boateng,on that fateful Saturday, August 6, 2011, vindicates the submission made by the latter.

During the programme, while discussing a mysterious secret recording in which a muffled voice alleged to be that of Baba Jamal is heard promising some journalists cars and cash as reward for doing government’s bidding,Agyenim-Boateng said the so-called tape”...betrays the intelligence” of those who addressed the press conference and made certain allegations against Baba Jamal and the Mills government.

Nana Akomea, who was one of the people who addressed the said press conference about forty-eight hours earlier and who was a panellist on the programme with Agyenim-Boateng, Kwadwo Twum-Boafo and Kweku Baako went berserk and verbally attacked the Deputy Tourism Minister, describing him as a stupid fool. “If you will sit on this programme and call me unintelligent, you are a stupid fool...” Nana Akomea ranted.

As far as the NDC General-Secretary is concerned, the Deputy Minister of Tourism did not insult Nana Akomea to warrant such vulgar words from him. On Baba Jamal, a Deputy Minister of Information, Asiedu-Nketia said it was obvious that the NPP are worried about the positive impact he is making on the campaign trail and therefore they think the best way to silence him is to fabricate something and put it on him.

“So we are solidly behind Baba Jamal and we are edging him to proceed to do more of his good works” the General-Secretary charged. In his opinion, discussions about the mysterious secret tape were not only fruitless but expose the mischievous intent of the NPP.

“After telling the whole world that the voice on the tape was that of Baba Jamal, they turned round to say they are not insisting that it is the voice of Baba Jamal but they want the nation to analyse the content. What type of intelligence is this?” he asked. “It means that nobody should waste our time analysing it. If it is not Baba Jamal and you have not told us whose voice it is, it may as well be that you said it yourself. Now if you are the person who is saying it and you are now projecting this as an allegation on somebody, then who should listen to you? So it is not a point at all.” The General-Secretary added. On the call for Baba Jamal to be dismissed for allegedly threatening workers of the Information Services Department, ISD, with dismissal if they don’t do their work well, Mr. Asiedu Nketia said it then also means that Appointment Letters of workers are a threat since they (Appointment Letters) clearly state what a worker should do with sanctions, including dismissals being action to be taken if they fail to do as required.

“And indeed, the NPP themselves are saying that Baba Jamal is acting in a way they (NPP) think is not the way a Minister should act, so he should be sacked. Now, if you are calling for the dismissal of the boss because you say he hasn’t done his work well, why do you fault him when he says that those under him, if they don’t do their work, would be sacked? So you see, one cannot understand the thinking processes of some of our friends on the other side.” he said. Dismissing statements attributed to the Deputy Information Minister by some media houses, Asiedu Nketiah said what the Deputy Information Minister was driving home to the workers of the ISD is that the government will not tolerate it when any of them deliberately goes out to distort facts to court public disaffection for the government.

“We won’t tolerate it and that is why we have to let them know. We are not behaving like the NPP who sacked people solely on the fact that they were employed under the NDC. Under them, being employed by the NDC was sufficient to have a person sacked. We have maintained everybody regardless of his or her political affiliations or bias and we are saying that do your work well according to your ethics; if you go contrary to the ethics (of your work), you will be sacked and we stand by that” he concluded