Ministers, MMDCEs accused of making NDC unpopular

A FORMER CDR Organizing assistant and the immediate past Constituency Secretary of Bosomtwe in the Ashanti Region, Mr. P. E. Ofosu, has accused Regional Ministers, Municipal and District Chief Executives of making the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the government unpopular.

According to him, while the NDC government is making all efforts to improve the lot of Ghanaians, the named government functionaries are unable to direct the Information Services Department to disseminate the message as to programmes and policies implemented by the government.

Mr. Ofosu further stated that while the Capitation grant was GH¢3.00 per School Child in the previous government, the NDC government has increased it to GH¢4.50 per School child, indicating a difference of GH¢15.00 as the government realized the GH¢3.00 was not adequate.

He also pointed out that while school authorities have failed to inform Parents and Teachers about the increase, they (school authorities) are taking between GH¢1.00 and GH¢3.00 as a printing fees per child in the basic and Junior High schools for their various examinations without the knowledge of the government and the Ministry of Education.

Mr. Ofosu appealed to the Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service (GES) to as a matter of urgency come out and stop those illegal fees being collected from the innocent parents.

Mr. Ofosu also said the public was left in the dark as to efforts by the government to make the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) accessible to every Ghanaian. He disclosed that the Scheme under the previous government did not cover certain drugs which have now been added under the NDC but which are not known to the people.

He attributed the situation to the inability of the regional Ministers and MMDCEs to co-ordinate the activities of the Information Services Department.

According to Mr. Ofosu, the government officials are not meeting with party members to brief them about government agenda and cautioned the leadership of the party to address this problem before it affects the fortunes of the party in 2012.

Mr. Ofosu condemned the campaign for the removal of Ashanti Minister saying it could spell the doom of the party.

He suggested that a Minister must be removed only due to incompetence and that even if a Minister from Ashanti region is to be removed, then he must be replaced by another person from the same region, to ensure regional balance and representation in government.