In recent times, there have been serious backlashes among Mahama’s ministerial appointees, even to the point that the fireworks have been extended to him.
Now, it appears as if the men and women who are supposed to work with the President are seemingly working against him.
The fireworks began with Dr. Tony Aidoo when he came out of silence to express his disgust at the manner in which his office and officers were being treated by Mahama’s government.
Sounding very frustrated, he said the office lacked the sort of collaboration and support it enjoyed when it was created, a period during which he still lamented the poor quality of information he was fed to work with.
Speaking on radio, he noted that the disclosures he was making, including the non-payment of salaries of his staffers for a period of six months, were not issues he would ordinarily put out in the public domain.
The baton was passed to Nana Oye Lithur, Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection who threatened to jail her deputy, Rachel Florence Appoh, and Director of Social Welfare, Christian Babooroh for releasing an 18-month old baby to foster parents.
The issue went viral throughout the country making people wonder if the two Ministers were having something against each other.
For some people, the sanctity and diplomacy of the high office of a Minister had been dragged in the mud per the conduct of Nana Oye Lithur.
While some lambasted Oye Lithur for such an intemperate language, she received pardon from the other end because some people felt she was utterly provoked by the move of Rachel and Mr. Babooroh.
The last one which sounded like a thunder-bolt is Alban Bagbin’s recent outburst against President Mahama for refusing to meet him (Bagbin) in order to have a tete a tete with the President on how to fight corruption and a host of other issues.
Bagbin went public with his grievance and has since refused to resign. This was after a serious give-and-take between him and Stan Dogbe, the writer of the president’s speeches.
“That is defeatist. That is defeatist if you ask all my colleagues, I always say that the best thing is to stay in and fight to correct things than to be outside”, Mr. Bagbin said on radio.
In every institution, there are rules and regulation as well as code of conduct which guides the behavior and actions of its officials. The President in a proactive manner and for the first time in the history of Ghana ordered the development of such a document christened: ‘Code of Ethics for Ministerial and Political Appointees’
After critically observing the Code of Ethics vis-à-vis the recent outburst of these political appointees, it is clear that some of the outburst clearly contravene the ethics and deserve due reprimand.
Nana Oye Lithur’s reaction goes to undermine item 1.3.2 of the code of ethics for ministers and political appointees that clearly stipulated that Ministers must be “humble, be decorous in his/her use of words even in the midst of provocations, and avoid offensive or provocative language and conduct".
It went further to state that a minister or political appointee must “conduct himself/herself with dignity and refrain from engaging in acts of rudeness and disrespect, ensure his/her communication is courteous, take reasonable care to maintain the integrity and reputation of the ministerial office and be willing to give and accept constructive criticisms to and from his/her colleagues, and from the general public.”
President Mahama’s introductory remarks as shown in the Code of Ethics say Ministers and Deputy Ministers are required to maintain the highest standards for all their ministerial and personal actions.
Meanwhile, the Code of Ethics stipulates that President Mahama shall in his discretion have the power to terminate the appointment of any minister who engages in any misconduct or force the Minister to resign or simply render an apology.
If the Code of Ethics approved by Mahama himself is anything to go by, then heads would roll, but if he chooses to tamper justice with mercy, then the Minister and the other staffers would be pardoned.
Indeed, Mahama’s Code of Ethics is being put to strong test and it is expected that a good precedence be set for the future.
