A couple of weeks ago NDC voters went to the polls to elect candidates for next year’s elections. One of the most publicized and talked about race was that of the Korley Klottey electoral area. The seat was a bone of contention between the incumbent Nii Amarh Ashitey and Dr Ezenator Rawlings daughter of former President Jerry Rawlings. Incidentally Dr. Rawlings won the race however Dr Rawlings couldn’t find her name in the register after combing through various polling stations in the consistency, her name was no where.
To contest for the NDC the various candidates were subjected to vetting and even though there were a lot of rumors about Dr. Rawlings not being a card bearing member of the NDC and her association with her mother’s party NDP she was cleared by the vetting group. However one will first want to ask, did the vetting group find out from Rawlings if she was a card holding member? Secondly, did the vetting group verify if her name was in the register, and which polling station does she cast her vote? And third, does our ex-President Rawlings with all his wisdom not know if his daughter was a registered voter, and what polling station they belong to.
One must wonder if this was a conspiracy by the NDC to get Nii Amarh Ashitey a fine Politician out of the NDC framework. He has been heckled so many times but still stands tall in the party.
Nii Amarh Ashitey a committed NDC cadre was appointed Mayor of Tema by Former President Rawlings, he served as mayor for 8 years during his tenure he transformed Tema into a beautiful city. He introduced the Baatsonaa Trade Center fair which transformed the spintex road into a commercial strip of businesses for the eight years he was mayor in Tema. Nii Amarh Ashitey was not linked to any scandal, he never moved into the official mayor’s residence and never used any official government vehicle. He was mayor until the NDC lost the election and he relinquished the position to the NPP.
During the John Atta Mills era Nii Amarh Ashitey was appointed as the Greater Accra Regional Minister. He held this position for about three years until he was removed by what I call a mafia move and until today nobody has been able to justify why Nii Amarh Ashitey was removed without a prior meeting with the president. He was not linked to the usual government scandal yet he heard of his removal from office on radio the same day he had meet with the president and other members of the cabinet and nothing of the sort was discussed. It was one of those moves that President Atta Mills was blinded off and rumors was that Mills was not aware of the change. While serving as the Greater Accra Minister he didn’t move into the minister’s residence. For the occasional meetings at the residence also he refused to use the police escort and official cars to save money for the government of Ghana.
After John Mahama won the election in the fourth republic he appointed Nii Amarh Ashitey as the Minister for Employment. Nii Amarh Ashitey brought to the Ministry a lot of experience being involved with trade unions and law. He implemented changes at the ministry and brought to light the importance of bringing back youth employment from the sports Ministry. He was able to negotiate a lot of labor strikes, notable amongst them was with UTAG (universities lecturers) and Doctors. He also led very high powerful delegations to the USA on child trafficking in Cocoa producing areas in Ghana and negotiated deals in New York with Universities to introduce and expand new courses in career technical education in Ghana. New relationships as students and youth exchanges between students in Technical schools in Ghana and Upstate New York were purposed under Nii Amarh Ashitey leadership yet he was once again removed from office as Minister with no explanation, and without the opportunity to implement needed change.
The sad part of Nii Amarh Ashitey political career is the NDC inability to capitalize on his expertise in the marine ports shipping and transport administration. You would think that someone who started from Black Star Line Shipping Company and then build his own marine business after the demise of Black Star Line and Marine Transport the government of Ghana should have tapped into his knowledge to fix the mess at the transport ministries and the shipping ports of Tema and Takoradi. But due to politics they would rather place him in unfamiliar ministries. This is all because he is too honest and wouldn’t allow illegal trading.
Interviewing people who have worked with Nii Amarh Ashitey from lack Star Line, TDC, Greater Accra Regional Office and the Employment Ministry they will tell you how hard working and genuine he is.
So if the NDC has such an honest person in the party one of the few Ga associated with the party you will think that members of the party would like the NDC to retain power will rather advocate for this man who exemplifies a real servant leadership style. NII Amarh Ashitey is not engaging in illegal deals, nor is he skimming government money but instead is showcasing a modest life. Yet the NDC MAFIA is always finding a way to destroy this man. How can the NDC endorse Rawlings to contest in Osu while die hard Ga members stand aloof and watch this happen. If it’s well established that she is not a resident of Osu and not a registered voter, then how come they the vetting committee of the grater Accra NDC allow her. It is a shame that a party built on the principles of probity and accountability would do this to one of its finest Honorable NII Amarh Ashitey. Mr. Rawlings it’s time to make a boom speech.
John Boye
