Mahama backs Nunoo-Mensah ‘rude’ attack on workers

Information gathered by the New Statesman suggests that President John Dramani Mahama has assured his National Security Advisor that his job is safe and that he will not seek to dismiss him from his government, despite the intensified public outcry against his continued stay in office.

The paper is reliably informed that this assurance is what has offered Brigadier-General Nunoo Mensah (Rtd) the bravado to stand by the insults he hurled on Ghanaian workers who are agitating for improved conditions of service, in view of the worsening cost of living in the country at the moment.


Some worried sources close to the Presidency, who believe the security capo has outlived his usefulness in the current scheme of affairs of the NDC government, yesterday informed the New Statesman that President Mahama met his security advisor Monday and expressly offered support for the comments he made.


The President’s security advisor has accused Ghanaian workers of being unpatriotic because they have been agitating for improved working conditions, asking them to take their passports and “get out of the country” if they are not ready to sacrifice as he and others had done for the country.


The comment was made in the presence of the President, who has also said he does not understand why Ghanaians should be complaining about economic hardship in the country.


President Mahama was said to have associated himself with the sentiments expressed by his National Security Advisor, wondering why Ghanaians were not prepared to give him “honeymoon period” like they did for all Presidents who had preceded him.

Even though the comment had attracted widespread condemnation from all walks of life, the retired Brigadier-General yesterday granted media interviews, including one on the BBC, in which he emphatically stated that he was never going to apologise for the comments as demanded by many well-meaning individuals and groups.


He reiterated the point that Ghanaian workers should sacrifice for the nation, insisting that so long as he continued to live, he would ensure that workers who embarked on strikes were not to be paid their salaries.


“No government, either in America or Britain, can pay you all that you want. If what we are paying you is not sufficient..., you are at liberty to leave for a better place. That is the point I’m making. But don’t live in Ghana and destroy the country. We need to make sacrifices - all of us,” he re-emphasised on BBC, adding that he owed nobody an apology for his comments.


The Security Capo followed up the BBC interview with another one on Adom FM’s ‘Dwaso Nsem’ where he reiterated his stance.


“Apology for what? For saying that I won’t pay you when you are on strike? I should apologise to you for staying on strike and saying I should pay you? What apology do I have? I owe nobody any apology,” he insisted.

On the calls for his resignation, the retired Brigadier-General had a clear response for his critics: “I will never resign. Why should I resign? Why do you think I should resign? If I’m speaking the truth, why should I resign? If you are a doctor, and you are on strike and I say you can leave, why should I resign?”


He further charged: “No one should be allowed to destroy Ghana. My wife thinks I’m even crazy, with all the money I’m spending in building schools and all. The time has come to save this nation. This country is dying. Those of us who have been around for a long time can see that; that is why I’ve launched a moral crusade. I will never resign,” he said.


Nunoo Mensah even went as far as accusing the opposition New Patriotic Party of masterminding the increasing labour agitations that have dogged the nation in recent times.


He insisted that based on his rich experience gathered while working with the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency and other international intelligence agencies, he could declare on authority that the NPP was behind the industrial actions, as part of the party’s desperate attempt win political power.


“I have enough experience, working with CIA and other intelligence agencies, to say that NPP is behind these things,” he stressed.

Mahama’s security advisor added: “I’m experienced enough to know that these are politically motivated demonstrations. They are hiding behind others, like the Trojan horse, to destroy the nation. If it’s not political, why is it that NPP people are insulting me? Nana Akomea and others. I know this is part of the political struggle. I know everybody in NPP. In 1996, I stood on NPP ticket; if you don’t know, so I know everybody there. They are the ones behind it,” he told listeners of Adom FM.


But in a sharp response, Nana Akomea, the immediate past Communications Director of the NPP, advised the former Chief of Defence Staff to “stop insulting” Ghanaian workers.


“To say that the workers are being manipulated by the NPP to agitate for better conditions of service and for the prompt payment of their salaries is a big insult to them; what you are telling them is that they don’t have a mind of their own to decide what is good for them,” he noted yesterday.


Nana Akomea added: “What do you expect workers to do? If you don’t pay nurses and teachers for over 20 months, what do you expect them to do? And when they go on strike to demand what is due them, your response to the situation is that they are being manipulated by the NPP. I think the nation deserves better than this.”