Wontumi told us to do ‘Planting for Foods and Jobs’ - Striking NPP Communicators reveal

The Ashanti Regional Communicators of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) have vowed not to engage any media house in the region to communicate the policies of the government if their concerns are not addressed.

In an intercepted official notice serving the regional executives of the party on their unwillingness to change their position, portions of the statement read that the Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako aka Wontumi tasked them to engage in the government’s ‘Planting for Foods and Jobs’ program instead of coming to him for any form of assistance.

It continues that the party has trivialized their concerns for far too long and has resulted to face-saving their ‘failed leadership’ by exporting communicators from Accra in their stead which they describe as insensitive and insulting to their contributions made so far to ensure that the party remains relevant in the minds of the people in the region.

Read the full statement below.

WE ARE OFFICIALLY ON STRIKE.

With a very heavy heart, we wish to officially indicate to the public, government and the New Patriotic Party that starting from Monday, 24th May, 2021, the Radio and TV Communicators for the ruling New Patriotic Party in the Ashanti Region are on strike. This decision has been necessitated by the unfair and unbalanced treatment that the leadership of the party and government have melted to us over the period.

In the last few days, this decision was unofficially indicated to the leadership in the region with the expectation that they were going to take steps to address the issues of the Regional Communicators, which by the way, are not new. These issues have been raised since 2017. To our dismay, some regional officers rather sought to trivialize our concerns by denying the strike entirely. That was very disrespectful to our concerns especially when all regional officers are aware of the difficulties Regional Communicators have had to deal with from 2016 through to the 2020 elections. Our work on radio and TV during the pandemic period accounted greatly for the 1.79 million votes from the Ashanti Region.

In February 2017, Chairman Wontumi told us point blank that he cannot help us and that we should join him in doing Planting for Food and Jobs. True to his word, he didn’t meet us until April 2021 when he sees that another regional primaries is knocking on his door. Suddenly, regional officers who are noted to be Accra-based radio and TV panelists are moving from one station to another in Kumasi. That is good. We will urge them to stay in the region and do more.

As if that was not enough, the Director of Communication for the Region also indicated that if the Team ‘A’ is not available, he will gladly use the Team ‘B’. His comment was clearly indicative of his insensitivity and disregard for the plight of the Communicators. Let it not be lost that he is also privy to all the concerns of communicators but has done nothing to address them.

Clearly, the leadership in the region don’t respect and appreciate the work we do as communicators for the party.

While the details of our concerns will be addressed when leadership avails itself, we would want to point out few concerns which are overarching:

1. The lack of sustainable jobs among Regional Communicators.

2. Lack of in-service training and denial vital information to communicators by those in authority.

3. The neglect of party Communicators in the region from appointive government positions when some clearly are ” more” than qualified for CEO and MMDCE positions.

4. Mobility difficulties among Communicators. Means of commuting for radio and TV programmes is becoming unbearable by the day.

5. Consideration for Regional Communicators in other government projects and programmes.

The regional leadership has failed us and we are convinced without doubt that they may have to critical and trusted input to make on this matter. For the first time since we came into government in 2017, we wish to meet the President, Vice President or Chief of Staff. Often time, these mediators have failed us and our concerns do not reach their destination.

It is our hope this impasse is resolved swiftly for the good of the party and our fortunes in the region. We also want to be recognised for our good work.

God bless Mother Ghana!

God bless the NPP

…… Signed……

ALL TV & RADIO COMMUNICATORS,  NPP-ASHANTI.