The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), says there is nothing wrong with the replacement of qualified officials at the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) with sympathizers of the party. The proposed restructuring of NADMO and closure of the National Mobilization Programme has been condemned because of the manner it was conducted-not to mention the subtle attempt to fill the organization with NPP members.
The NPP, while in opposition and supported by the media, championed the case for the de-politicisation of appointments. The government of the NPP has however gotten itself involved in similar actions, and after announcing plans to restructure NADMO, replaced all ten regional co-ordinators with party faithfuls.
Not all the replacements are qualified for the position, whiles those forced to handover are yet to be re-assigned as promised in a circular. One of the ten co-ordinators is still in school at the University of Ghana. Others are either regional party executive members or defeated parliamentary candidates.
The party and government do not see anything wrong with the criticism against these appointments. The National Mobilisation Programme (NMP) is no more and all staff sacked, with its main functions transferred to the NADMO. Many employees of the NADMO are themselves set to lose their jobs, as efforts to give jobs to more party faithfuls gathers momentum. The mode of disbanding the NMP and treatment of the NADMO staff has also been condemned as contravening the Civil Service Code.
NPP Chairman, Harruna Esseku however believes that such criticisms are uncalled for. “It is unfortunate that people are trying to compare the past government to the present one. The New appointees are NPP members and so what? The most important thing is whether they are competent or not."
Meanwhile, reports reaching JOYFM say many district co-ordinators of NADMO have been asked to handover to some ill-qualified members of the ruling party. Some members of the NPP have voiced concern over the qualification and suitability of these appointments. Most of the new district co-ordinators of NADMO have very poor academic backgrounds whose only suitability for the position was their support to the party.
