Disability Council was NPP brainchild - Nana Akomea

Former Manpower and Employment Minister, Nana Akomea, has accused the Mills administration of unjustifiably claiming credit for the inauguration of the Governing Board for the Persons with Disability Council.

Mr. Akomea said there was a Board put together by the Kufuor administration but was never inaugurated.

That Board had Prof Emmanuel Gyimah Boadi as Chairman.

The new Board inaugurated by the Mills administration has a different person as Chairman.

Nana Akomea was speaking at a symposium on President John Mills's first 100 days in office.

It was organized by the Danquah Institute, a think tank with sympathies for the Danquah-Busia tradition, forebears of the main opposition NPP.

“All that the president did was to reconstitute and inaugurate the governing board of the persons with disability act. The removal of Prof Gyimah Boadi and his colleagues is quiet unfortunate. Prof. Boadi was selected as Chairman of the governing board of the persons with disability, not only because of his own condition as a person with disability but for also the dedicated work that he had done in advancing the cause of people with disability,” he said.

According to him, Prof. Gyimah's 'high credibility would have been a definite asset to the council in promoting the issues of disability both locally and internationally.'

The former Manpower and Employment Minister, went on to state that the decision to remove Mr. Gyimah from that position could only be translated as another example of victimization of people who were selected to serve their nation under the former regime regard less of their competence or credibility.

Mr. Akomea also criticized the Mills administration as not-so-lean as it would want Ghanaians to believe.

He said the review of the petroleum and airport tax does not meet the promise to review various taxes regimes within the first 100 days.

He said the security situation in the country has not improved vastly as promised by the NDC manifesto and catalogued circumstances during the transition process to make his point.

“We talking about harassment, former ministers whose homes were invaded by operatives of national security looking for cars. We talking about businessmen being harassed, the NPP businessman, I don't know who he or she is but he's probably the most vilified person in this country. I understand he is the reason why the cedi is in its current state and he or she is getting the inflation to go up as it is doing,” he said.

“When we talk about political persecution, when due process has been followed and the person is going through due process, when does it become political persecution? Because the person has held political office, if that is the case, let's wait and see what will happen in the next few months,” he said.

He stated that in the immediate aftermath of the inauguration, the budget of the Ministry of the interior was reduced by nine per cent.

According to him, the sentiments of P.V Obeng and J.J Rawlings quiet sums of the first 100 days of the NDC.

“And indeed when you get to the streets of Accra one of the most popular cash phrases is that 'ofee dull', and then if you move to the streets and you went into the markets and the women have their head in their palms, they tell you that they are on the telephone to Mills,” he said.

By: citifmonline