Based on news item by Prince Adu-Owusu, www.myjoyonline.com
After much criticism, the government of President John Dramani Mahama has backtracked from its reckless and ill-considered decision to dismiss thousands of workers in the public sector.
The workers were dismissed by letter from Chief of Staff Julius Debrah early in the administration of the Mahama Government. The excuse was that they were employed late in the erstwhile Akufo-Addo Administration.
Now, the government says that it has set up a ‘revocation committee’ to study each dismissal on an individual basis, suggesting that the decision was taken without proper consideration of all factors.
The Minister of State for Government Communication, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, says the government will reinstate public sector workers whose appointments were revoked after December 7, 2024, if it is established that due process was followed.
Speaking on JoyFM’s Top Story on Tuesday, September 16, he revealed that a revocation committee, operating under the auspices of the Chief of Staff, has been tasked to carefully review all such appointments and dismissals.
“As I speak to you, there’s a revocation committee set up under the auspices of the Chief of Staff, which is perusing all the cases on their merits and where it is found that due process was not followed, the dismissals will stand, but where it is shown that due process is followed, those people will be reinstated,” Mr Ofosu said.
He explained that during the transition period after the 2024 elections, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government rushed appointments into the civil service without following proper recruitment procedures.
He argued that this prompted corrective measures from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the John Mahama-led administration.
“The fact that they are affiliated with NPP is not an issue. They [NPP] bypassed laid-down processes. They had eight years to employ everybody that they needed to employ, yet they lost elections, and within a matter of a month, they had railroaded people into the civil service without real cost to due process,” he said.
Mr Ofosu stressed that the government has nothing against individuals securing employment but insisted on fairness and adherence to the rules.
“We are a country governed by rules, so you cannot bypass the laid-down process and unfairly tilt the process in favour of persons aligned to one political party or the other,” he added.
On public perception of the government’s performance, he said feedback indicates “general satisfaction,” particularly regarding the economy.
The Government Communication spokesperson noted that the conditions of the Ghanaian economy today are significantly better than at the beginning of the year, when the NDC administration assumed office.
“The improvements in the economy have been felt by all, and every person engaging in an honest assessment will concede that things are much better today than they were at the beginning of the year in January or February when we took over,” he said.
He admitted, however, that challenges remain, particularly in the fight against illegal mining, commonly known as galamsey.
“As is the case in the fighting against galamsey, we continue to take measures to ensure that we overcome it, so the public can follow what we are doing and appreciate that we are working to alleviate the difficulties that that particular canker poses.”
