I've not been paid for 5 years as Director for Creative Arts at NCC - Socrate Safo

Movie producer and former Director of Creative Arts at the National Commission on Culture, Socrate Safo, has revealed that he was not paid salary for the five years he worked at the state agency.

He made the disclosure in a panel discussion on Peace FM on Saturday, August 17, after two musicians, Nicholas Omane Acheampong and Isaiah Kwadwo Ampong, recently lamented that the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) had neglected them after working for the party to come to power.

Socrate Safo, sharing in the frustration of the two musicians, recounted how he and other creative arts professionals had worked for the party with their own funds in previous elections, crisscrossing the country to campaign but they received no support from the party.

He added that even when he was finally given an appointment after the party won the 2016 election, he had to go and fix the office he was to work in because the place had been abandoned.

Socrate Safo shared his own frustration after his appointment as the Executive Secretary of the National Commission on Culture.

"I was appointed to serve at the National Commission on Culture. When I got there, I met an abandoned place. None of the workers were in their office because the building had become a death trap. So I went in and fixed the whole place to make it safe. I did a whole lot of programs within the creative arts front with my own money because there was no money there. There was not a single computer at the commission. I got some computers and two printers to go and revamp the whole place, including electricity, with my own money. I did programmes with my own money and not government budget, but while I did all these, I was not being paid. Whenever I pursued my salary, I was told we were working on it," Safo narrated.

He continued: "I was in the office when I was informed that somebody had come there with a letter that she's been appointed to be the substantive head of the Commission. People vowed to resist my removal. When the woman came, I sat with her, and it emerged that she was given the appointment letter by one of the then Deputy Chiefs of Staff, Asenso Boakye. Initially, I was the Executive Secretary of the Commission, and that position was given to her, and I was moved to Director of Creative Arts at the Commission. For all the time I worked there, I chased my salaries, but I was not paid a dime. I have chased my salaries to date; I have even taken the matter to the Labour Commission before. For five years I have never been paid; no salary for even a month."

He, however, said he still supports the NPP because it has good policies, which are helping develop the country, and that is what is motivating him.

Safo urged the NPP to learn to support and appreciate persons at the grassroots who work tirelessly to help the party win power.

"When it comes to managing the country, NPP is the best, but when it comes to taking care of the foot soldiers, that is where the problem is. The people who went down there and worked hard for the party to come to power should be supported," Safo stated.

KA

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