The Akufo-Addo government is on a mission to purge the civil and public service of all appointees employed by the Mahama administration, Kumbungu MP Ras Mubarak has said.
Speaking on the recent dismissal of the Medical Director of the Ridge Regional Hospital, Dr Thomas Anaba, Mr Mubarak said: “the time has come for all right thinking Ghanaians to stand up and be counted.”
Dr Anaba was appointed amidst controversy on 1 February 2016 by President John Mahama. His appointment was to last till 2020 after which he would have had the option of reapplying to stay on. He was served with his dismissal letter on Monday 15 May and asked to vacate post in two hours. He is demanding to know if his dismissal had the blessing of the Public Service Commission and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) Council.
In Mr Mubarak’s estimation, the rate at which the new administration is dismissing public officials appointed by the Mahama administration is alarming.
“We are witnessing a binge of communist style witch-hunting under Nana Akufo Addo and it's dangerous for our national security. Where in any proper democracy do you give less than 48hours to the head of a public institution, properly appointed, whose only crime is that he was appointed by a previous regime, to hand over?
“The longer we keep silent and stay aloof, the longer the international community looks on, the brazen this hopeless government gets,” he warned.
The opposition lawmaker compared the dismissal to the Rwandan genocide, saying the NPP administration was bent on purging all suspected NDC appointees from office.
“What we are seeing is a purge of the public and civil service reminiscent of the kind we saw in Rwanda, except that this is not tribal but political.”
“When Parliament resumes, I would want the Minister of Health to come to the floor of the House and answer why he thinks he can sit in his office and sack persons who have been properly employed. We must use all lawful means to ensure a reversal of this dangerous assault on our rights as citizens,” Mr Mubarak said.