In his New Year message, my school Roommate, President John Dramani Mahama, made a profound statement which touched my heart.
He underlined the fact that this country belonged to all Ghanaians and it was only when we put our hands to the wheel and invite all to the deck that we can promote sustainable development and build a country that we would all be proud of.
He said with certainty, ” there is no NPP Ghana no CPP Ghana nor NDC Ghana” and encouraged us all to do away with divisive partisan politics appealing that ” we can learn to disagree without being disagreeable”.
The President spoke well, yet since 1960, every change of government has come with the concomitant of ingratitude to respected public servants who had served the nation with distinction merely because they were appointed by the previous administration.
In one particular instance under the Fourth Republic , a venerable lady of impeccable record of selfless service in public office was denied the right to voluntarily resign but after a few days dismissed with ignominy.
Yet if we distinguish between political and public office, the action will benefit a lot from such distinguished career public office holders.
Two examples may prove the point: Ms Sophia Akuffo was appointed to the Supreme Court by Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings whilst Mr Justice Paul Baffoe Bonnie was appointed by President Kufuor but blossomed and has been appointed to the high office as the Chief Justice by President Mahama.
These have been possible because the office is insulated from political partisanship, with a guaranteed tenure, with some exceptions, under the Constitution.
We may need to do so for all other civil and public offices and organisations to ward off the hands of Government or Executive from interfering with the work and operation of public and civil servants for as long as they have been loyal, dedicated and responsive to the public good.
While the Supreme Court has affirmed that Chief Directors of the ministries are political office holders, how does the change in leadership of state-owned companies inure to the benefit of the country except for political patronage and yielding to ministerial pressure.
How does the change of the Government Statistician or Chief Executives of the state-owned commercial banks profit the country except for patronage.
When Chief Executives of public institutions use the failures of a past government to measure their own performance, how does that contribute to sustainable national development except to score cheap partisan political points.
When Members of Parliament,(MPs) get to represent constituencies, on the basis of the principle of first- past-the-post, rather than an absolute majority, rise to tell colleague MPs, who express contrary views that they have no sense of shame, because of the past failures of a previous government, which they might not have got the privilege to serve, how do these advance the cause and course of democracy and national development.
Therefore, I want to commend my Roommate for stating what some of us have clamoured for through our public lives but which has been elusive since we became a republic in 1960.
We can only applaud and say ” well said”, Mr President but we need to begin to live it.
We must not leave it at what our elders have said that it is easier said than done, ” se wode wo mmowere do enwere a ennwo wo”.
We need to demonstrate that we understand and appreciate democratic tenets and that when the Constitution says that there should not be any discrimination, we appreciate what it means.
The 1992 Constitution began from somewhere.
Thus, now that we have stated the obvious, we must not behave like chameleons or ostriches, but live what is worthy and call a spade by its name.
We must not and cannot allow public office holders of all hues and colours, including chief executives to hold party positions in offices simultaneously or serve as party spokespersons in matters where they have a public duty not to use information they come across as part of their responsibility for private or partisan cause or gain.I will never stop citing Tanko Computer as a chief executive of a public entity and Director of Elections of the National Democratic Congress
In the same vein, is it not a matter of great dereliction of duty and fundamental partisanship that none of the people who caused destruction at the offices of the Electoral Commission in Accra as part of the protestations over the Ablekuma Central Constituency vote tally has been charged before a court of competent jurisdiction.
What about those who burnt the school block at Kwashieman to destroy the electoral materials stored there or at Ayensuano.
It has been established beyond doubt that whenever there are electoral violence if the criminals belong to the party which wins the elections, there will be no trials but if the suspects belong to the losing party, there would be prosecution.
Sankofa
We have been immersed in the philosophy of Sankofa. Our elders say ” se wowere efiri biribi na wosan wakyi kofa a yenkyiri ” and it is never too late to do the right thing for the right reason. We have practised the culture of partisan patronage to the extent that even Chief Executives, in the absence of boards, purport to dissolve boards of their subsidiary companies,even when the organisations they head are not the sole owners of the smaller enterprises.
The time has come for us not to rush to dissolve boards and make temporary appointments because our parties have won power since public institutions are not the bonafide of governments or political parties.
We also have to let our party supporters know and appreciate that there is a difference between public office and political office.
I doff my heart to my Roomate President Mahama and want to encourage him to take the first steps in getting those he has appointed to public office to choose between public office and party office, to avoid conflict of interest and the indirect funding of party activities by way of some personnel receiving salary from public office but serving in a party office.
That way, he would have taken the initiative on the proposal from the Constitution Review Committee to separate public office from political office to enable and empower public and civil servants to serve the state rather than governments and political parties,
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh
