Ayariga worried over protest against Mahama's appointees

A Government official on Tuesday expressed disquiet over recent protests staged by pressure groups and individuals against the appointments of public officers.

He noted that such development was a bane to national development and cohesion.

Mr Mahama Ayariga, Minister of Information, who raised the concern said such protests mounted by groups on rampage were a worrying “emerging trend” that had the potential to wipe Ghana’s socio-economic gains.

He was speaking at the opening session of a three-day workshop organised in Accra for Regional Budget Officers and Regional and District Information Officers on the 2013 Budget and Economic Policy.

Government recently announced the first reshuffle of President John Dramani Mahama’s appointees to ensure that the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies achieved local level development.

The move, which is said to be in line with the President’s aim of having the Regional Ministers to focus mainly on the political and technical coordination of the development efforts of MMDAs, have received some protest.

Mr Ayariga said the President’s appointment and reshuffling of public officers, including Regional Ministers and District Officers needed to be seen in a positive light.

He said it was to foster national unity and integration, adding, “Ghana is a unitary state, therefore we should be able to move anyone (a proficient officer) anywhere to deliver on the basis of the individual’s competence”, he stressed.

Mr Ayariga said some had suggested that Regional Ministers should be posted only to places where they were natives of, but he described the proposal as faulty.

He gave the assurance that public officials on postings were properly briefed so they could gain functional knowledge of the sector, agency, district or region they served.

Mr Ayariga said any move by individuals or groups of people against the forward-movement arrangement of the President’s directives was against national interest, adding that, they needed to be condemned.

He told the more than 110 officers in attendance that Government had put in place measures to supply them with the tools they needed to make them productive and efficient.

Mr Ayariga announced that every District Director of the Information Services Department and Regional Information officer would be given a laptop computer and an internet modem to aid them in their operations.

In addition, he said Government would soon supply the Ghana Journalists Association, the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association, the Ghana News Agency and Information Services with more than 400 laptop computers for the members.

Mr Ayariga said the procurement process had been completed.

He underscored the role information officers played in the dissemination of Government programmes and policies to the citizenry and announced that the Government would run a series of capacity training for the information officers to increase their productivity and relevance in society.

Mr Ayariga said the district information officers would soon be required to set up and manage websites to inform the citizenry on Government programmes and policies.

He disclosed that not less than 100 websites are expected to be set up at the district level.

Mr Ayariga urged the participants to use the local Frequency Modulation (FM) and community FM stations to educate the citizenry on the 2013 budget and economic policy.

Major Mahama Samuel Tara (Rtd), Chief Director at the Ministry of Finance, expressed the hope that the participants would be abreast of the details of the 2013 budget and economic policy so they could explain them to the citizenry.