Ex-minister condemns political persecution by NDC

A FORMER ASHANTI Regional Deputy Minister has bemoaned what he terms 'political persecution', which he said is eating into the nation's political fabric.

Mr. Osei Assibey Antwi said even though the malaise had run through the various political administrations since independence, it has festered under the Presidency of Professor John Atta Mills.

Talking to a section of the media, the former Deputy Minister regretted that what makes the issue dangerous is the fact that former President Jerry John Rawlings, who ruled the country for 19 years, during which era extra judicial killings, mass dismissals in the public, civil and security services and arbitrary convictions occurred, and on three occasions committed subversive acts against the nation, is also stampeding Prof. Mills to dismiss and prosecute members of the previous administration.

Osei Assibey Antwi noted that over the past seven months, the hall mark of the NDC government has been the dismissal and retirement of dedicated civil and public servants, whose only crime is that they are loyal to the state which they serve.

According to the former Minister, the security services have also not been spared, as security officers have been prematurely released whilst others have been unnecessarily transferred, with some of these transfers amounting to demotion. “What is nauseating is that professionals who vacated their juicy positions both at home and abroad to serve mother Ghana have been made redundant simply because the NDC government claims it cannot work with them. Even the health Sector has been targeted by the new government and this is amplified in the recent dismissal of the Chief Executive of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare. Where are we going as a nation,” Osei Assibey Antwi queried. He further noted that after seven months in office, Prof. Mills and his NDC government have come to the painful realization that governing the country and managing the national economy is not all cheese and butter.

According to the former Minister, the NDC government has lost focus and direction, and therefore, is employing rough and inferior tactics such as massive dismissals of what is perceived to be public and civil servants, and security personnel who owed allegiance to out-gone President Kufuor and the NPP government, and pointed out rather regrettably that this was not the mandate Ghanaians gave to the NDC.

Osei Assibey Antwi said we now have a moribund economy where nothing works, citing the continuous depreciation of the cedi against all the major currencies on a daily basis, fuel shortages, rising commodity prices and a demoralized civil and public service which does not provide job security.

He lamented that instead of settling down and taking the bull by the horn, the new administration is rather blaming its ineptitude and deficiencies on the out-gone NPP government, adding that the blame game will not wash, since Ghanaians are living testimonies of conditions that prevailed under ex-President J.A. Kufuor and the NPP government, and the current hardship that is prevailing under Prof. Mills' Presidency.

“Discerning Ghanaians are observing the contradictions of the NDC government, and would soon make a decision come election 2012,” Osei Assibey Antwi said.