Sacked NSS recruits should seek redress – Kpessa-Whyte

Dr Michael Kpessa-Whyte, former Executive Director of the National Service Secretariat (NSS), has asked some 205 recruits who have been dismissed by the new administration to seek justice in court.

“I will advise that all those individuals should not just take the decision at it is…If they have been written to individually then they should consult their lawyers and see what legal remedies are available to them… They have more than a case because when you have gone through all the processes by the Public Services Commission itself, as required by the constitution …and because some party wins power and uses some ‘patapaa’ way of getting them out of the place, are they also not Ghanaians? The legal system has more than what it takes to resolve this matter amicably,” he told Emefa Apawu on Class FM’s 505 on Wednesday, February 8.

He was reacting to a press release which indicated that the new administration at the Secretariat had sacked all last-minute recruits engaged by him in December last year just before the Mahama administration left office after losing the December 7 polls.

A letter to that effect signed by acting Executive Director Ussif Mustapha, released on Wednesday, February 8, said the management of the National Service Scheme (NSS) acted “on the advice of the Minister of Education” to “withdraw the National Service staff recruitment which was done in December, 2016 with immediate effect”.

The letter further said there had been “violations of due process to the recruitment” hence the decision” to terminate the employment offers.

However Dr Kpessa-Whyte insisted that due process was followed and no law was infringed upon.

According to him, the Public Services Commission and the Ministry of Finance granted a clearance but cautioned the scheme not to conduct any recruitments after December 31, 2016, which it adhered to.

He was of the view that the “new administration should ask more questions and get all documents, otherwise we will end up with an embarrassment”.

He pointed out that the details concerning recruitment were outlined in his handing over notes.

”The people who have been recruited have been legally and properly recruited as established by the Public Services Commission. The Board has the right to recruit and the Board has done that. The new management is being deceived into taking a decision on the basis of wrong information,” he added.

Dr Whyte refuted allegations of recruiting his favourites before leaving office, describing the allegations as “rubbish”.

He explained that to avoid political or other interference, the board contracted a third party recruitment firm to undertake the exercise.

“In doing so, they made sure that senior members of the Ghana Civil Service sat on the recruitment committee, members of the National Service board sat on the interview committee, and at least one member of the management body sat on the interview committee as well. How could all these people sitting on the committee physically approve some people that are my favourites?” he asked.

For him the country is “just witnessing the emergence of lawlessness, disorder and an affront to our democratic beliefs and I believe that Ghanaians are quietly watching and at the right time Ghanaians will know what we have as change”.