Govt. Appointees Instructed To Skew Jobs & Contracts In Favour of NPP People
The President of the Republic of Ghana, Mr. J. A. Kufuor, has made it clear that he has issued instructions to all his Ministers, DCEs, MCEs, and other government appointees to give preferential treatment to members of his ruling New Patriotic Party. Addressing NPP apparatchiks at the party’s Annual Delegates Conference at Koforidua on Saturday, President Kufuor told his party apparatchiks that he has issued instructions to all his appointees not to “forget where our bread is buttered”.
President Kufuor said, “the entire membership of government at both central and local levels have been instructed to work with the principle of loving your neighbour as yourself, not more than yourself, meaning even as we serve our nation, as fairly as is humanly possible, we must never forget where our bread is buttered.”
Which statement he underscored with the most pregnant statement of “I believe a word to the wise is enough,” thus making it clear that he fully expects his Ministers and other appointees to read between the lines and understand the true message he was conveying to them.
Though the President, in his speech, spoke about being “as fair as is humanly possible” his advice to his appointees not to forget where their bread is buttered really exposes the earlier advice on fairness as mere window dressing. President Kufuor also took pains to inform his party people that the actions and policies of the NPP government have not been aimed at securing the best interest of the generality of the people of Ghana, but rather aimed at securing the best interest of the ruling New Patriotic Party.
In his own words, the President said, “let me assure you that whatever actions this government has taken have been done with the best interest of the Party in mind. There is too much history of sacrifice, perseverance, commitment and toil within our tradition over the past five decades for this government to forget.”
The President’s own pronouncements have confirmed that concerns raised by opponents of the ruling NPP that the government is deliberately skewing jobs, contracts, and other facilities in favour of members of the ruling New Patriotic Party were not mere allegations.
An apparently shocked Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, Mr. Elvis Afriyie Ankrah could not hide his dismay at the President’s pronouncements, which he described as “most shameful”.
“I am ashamed that the President of the Republic of Ghana could make such statements on a public platform. What has happened to integrity? What has happened to competence? What has happened to fairness? In my view the president’s statements is a clear recipe for corruption and nepotism. This must never be encouraged,” a shocked Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah told The Ghanaian Lens. “This is one more evidence that the NPP is increasingly losing focus. They have become rudderless. It is clear that the NPP no longer cares about the generality of Ghanaians. All they care about is self-preservation and how to grab as much as they can to make themselves and their cohorts comfortable,” the Deputy General Secretary of the NDC in charge of Operations observed. On his part, the National Youth Organiser of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Mr. Benard Mornah observed that “there could not have been a better blank cheque issued by the President to his appointees to be inward-looking in terms of award of government contracts and other services to NPP members. This is a direct instruction to government appointees to become nepotistic and corrupt. This must be condemned in no uncertain terms.
A political analyst, Mr. Kwame Asiedu, puzzled by the President’s double-talk, asked, “why should anybody who is being as fair as is humanly possible be thinking of where his bread is buttered?”
“It is clear that the President does not intend that his appointees should be fair to the generality of Ghanaians. Fair means fair. If you are being fair, it does not matter where your bread is buttered or who insulted or castigated you the other day. You treat everybody fair without any precondition,” Mr. Asiedu observed.
Agreeing with the position of Mr. Asiedu, the Propaganda Secretary of the NDC in the Central region, Mr. Allotey Jacobs said, “I am clear in my mind that all that the President was saying was that he has issued instructions to his appointees to give preferential treatment to NPP apparatchiks. This is a clear violation of the oath of office that he swore to be fair to all manner of persons in the Republic of Ghana. My heart bleeds for the people of Ghana who are not in the NPP.”
As at the time of going to press, indications are that the political parties in opposition might soon be issuing a joint-statement to condemn this clear violation of the national constitution.
