The South African Council of Elders Chair for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Benjamin Kofi Quashie, has suggested that the Public Service must function independently and professionally.
This was his defence for government’s revocation of appointments made after December 7.
Highlighting the revocation of appointments and recruitments, he emphasised that appointments nuanced with politics should be discouraged going forward.
In an interview on JoyNews‘ PM Express, Monday, 24th February, he defended the Chief of Staff, Mr. Julius Debrah’s actions, stressing they were done in good faith to sanitise employment made into the Public Service.
“The Public Service must always function independently and professionally; it should break free from political interference,” he said.
He added that government’s current actions are aimed at weeding out unqualified and unprofessional people from the Public Service and ensuring that competent and qualified people are employed to manage our services.
Mr Quashie emphasised the legitimacy of the dismissals by stating that their recruitment was politically motivated rather than based on merit, qualifications, or national needs.
He pointed out that the timing after December 7th raises concerns about irregularities, rushed appointments and a deliberate attempt to overburden the incoming administration, giving the government the right to review and nullify last-minute appointments that did not follow due process.
In furtherance of his justification for the mass revocation of the recruitments, Quashie references the recent National Service Scheme (NSS) scandal, which exposed widespread corruption in public sector recruitment.
To him, this serves as a strong justification for cleaning up the public sector, ensuring that all corruption-related individuals are removed, reinforcing accountability in government institutions by preventing politically motivated and fraudulent appointments that undermine transparency, efficiency and national interest.
“The era in which the Public Service is used to reward political individuals or followers must cease forthwith”, he stressed, adding that the state must ensure the public service works in the interest of and for the betterment of the Ghanaian people.
To achieve this, the SA Council Chair proffered that the government must ensure that employment opportunities are available to all qualified Ghanaians, not just those aligned with a particular political party. This, according to him, would offer many deserving candidates the opportunity to compete favourably for government employment opportunities.
Mr. Quashie further expressed worry at the NPP’s posture, highlighting the NPP has undertaken similar reviews and dismissals of politically motivated late appointments in their immediate past government.
Assuring Ghanaians of the NDC’s determination to do the right things, Quashie noted factually that the Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has emphatically stated that the 15,200 nurses recruited between June and August 2024 will not be asked to go home, which further justifies the actions of the Chief of Staff regarding procedural lapses in post-election recruitments.
The NDC government, according to him, is committed to transparency and accountability in governance by protecting public institutions from political exploitation, ensuring that employment decisions are fair and justified, and guaranteeing that future employment processes are
based on national interest rather than political advantage.
Conversely, “anybody recruited after December 7th, rather unfortunately, we would review those appointments,” he noted.
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