Why The Head Of Local Government Service, Dr. Callistus Mahama Must Be Sacked-part V

This is the fifth and final part in the series of articles meant to justify my charge of incompetence directed at the current Head of Local Government Service, Dr. Callistus Mahama. In Part IV, I promised to tackle the contradictions in the publications of Dr. Callistus Mahama for the service and I will do just that to end this series. I wish I could touch on the processes leading to my indefinite suspension by Dr. Callistus Mahama to further buttress the point of his gross incompetence but as you might be aware, those issues are before the law courts now and it will not be proper for me to discuss it here since I may prejudice the process. At the appointed time I will go into them.

Before I proceed to tackle the subject matter of this write up, let me take this opportunity to once again wish all a HAPPY NEW YEAR. May the good Lord guides us unto the path of righteousness and grant us the fortitude to stand for the TRUTH in all our endeavours. Blessed would be those who keep justice and those who do righteousness at all times! (Psalm 106:3). May 2016 be more fulfilling. I wish to also express my sincere gratitude to all who made my Christmas and New Year celebrations a memorable one. I am eternally grateful and God replenish you in a hundred fold! For people who thrive on iniquity like Dr. Callistus Abukari Mahama, I refer them to Psalm 109. Don’t get me wrong, I am yet to take that prayer!

Now to business! To those who have followed my write ups keenly, you would realised that I have already touched on some of these contradictions that I intend to discuss here. The contents of the publications of the Local Government Service under Dr. Callistus Mahama as you will see do not only contradict themselves but are alien to the laws, rules and regulations guiding the service in particular and the public service in general. I submit to you that these lapses are born out of inexperience and gross incompetence.

As I said I have already discussed some of these contradictions but for emphasis I will repeat some of them here. The Human Resource Policy Framework and Manual for the Ghana Public Services in section 9.4.12.4 states “A public servant who is interdicted shall be paid 50% of that public servant’s salary”. Section 46(b) of the Condition of Service for the Local Government Service produced in 2007 states “During the period of interdiction which should not exceed six (6) calendar months, the interdicted officer shall be paid one-half of his/her salary provided he/she is not indebted to the government”. Then came Dr. Callistus Mahama’s Human Resource Operational Manual (HROM) for the Local Government Service in 2013 which states in section 6.6.3 (g)(iv) that “An employee who is interdicted shall receive TWO-THIRDS of his salary for the period of interdiction, and she/he shall not be paid any allowances to which she/he normally would have been entitled”. For information purposes, the Local Government Service is just one of the public services of Ghana. I will not say anything further here because I have mentioned this in one of my earlier write ups.

Now to the Code of Conduct for the Local Government Service and Part II section 1.6 states “In the discharge of their roles or functions in any project or task, officers and staff of Local Government Service shall not seek election to office as a member of an Assembly”. When I first read this I exclaimed, WHAAAAAT?! And not only did Dr. Callistus Mahama include this unconstitutionality in the code of conduct but went ahead to forcefully insist on its implementation. First he wrote to all MMDAs drawing the attention of staff in the Local Government Service (LGS) to this provision in the code of conduct when the district elections were announced. Patriotic staff of the Service who knew what they were about defied this directive and went ahead to contest the Assembly elections and some won. These individuals who were just exercising their civic rights as enshrined in the 1992 constitution were now being coerced and intimidated to resign from their post. It took CLOGSAG’s threats to stop Dr. Callistus Mahama from carrying out his threat of terminating the appointment of such staff. In the spirit of giving credit where it is due, I say thank you to CLOGSAG for spotting this illegality early and stopping it but I wish to add that the problems of Local Government Staff now are much bigger than being able to become Assembly members and I employ them to wake up and do more. Harassment, intimidation and victimisation of CLOGSAG members are a daily affair in the public sector and the earlier we look at these things comprehensively, the better.

To think that someone would put this unconstitutionality in a code and go ahead to insists on its implementation beats my imagination. To know why this is unconstitutional and illegal, I employ you to read Article 248(1) & (2) of the 1992 constitution and section 6 and 7 of the Local Government Act of 1993, Act 462 with specific reference to section 6, subsection 5. Even if these laws do not say what they say in these articles and sections, on what grounds would one seek to exclude people (who are knowledgeable in an area and could potentially contribute meaningfully to deliberations in Assembly sittings) from partaking in a process that is purely developmental? I have been asked before and I have said it that there is absolutely nothing legally wrong with a staff of LGS accepting appointments as a government appointee into the Assemblies except that the way we do our politics in this country would not allow me to accept such an appointment. I am reliably informed that Dr. Callistus Mahama served as an Assembly Member in the East Gonja District Assembly as a Government Appointee in the period 2006 – 2009 and for the benefit of doubts; I might have to wait and hear the experiences he gained that informed his decision to think of breaking the law before I make conclusive conclusions.

Now look at this! In Dr. Callistus Mahama’s illegal Foreword to the HROM, he recognises the existence and importance of laws and protocols like the conditions of service in the Local Government Service by saying that “Nonetheless the primary sources of information in this manual are EXTRACTS from the protocols of the Service namely; Conditions of Service, Scheme of Service, Code of Conduct and other relevant legislations of the Service”. And yet almost everything in the HROM contravenes the content of the Condition of Service. The only exceptions may be the sections of the HROM which says “Refer to Conditions of Service” or “See conditions of service”. And what is even that? In the Foreword of the HROM, it states that “It (the HROM) is intended to serve as a QUICK REFERENCE to the staff of LGS particularly Human Resource Managers and Senior Managers who have been entrusted with the responsibility of managing staff”. How can a document which is meant to be for QUICK reference refer people severally to websites and other protocols? I don’t get it! Absurd to say the least!!

Section 5 of the conditions of service states and I quote “The Local Government Service Council shall be the highest authority for setting standards, appointments, disciplinary matters etc, and for the implementation of these Conditions of Service within the Local Government Service”. This is consistent with relevant provisions of the Local Government Service Act of 2003, Act 656 as I have discussed before. But if you are curious as I am, just take a look at Dr. Callisttus Mahama’s HROM. Everything in it is to be done by the HEAD OF SERVICE. Even appointments! This is what section 2.6.5(iii) says under terms of employment “The HEAD OF SERVICE shall make appointments to positions required for effective and efficient management of the Service and WHEN NECESSARY in consultation with the Council and the Public Services Commission, setting out the terms and conditions of employment”. And yet when he was asked to react to his incompetence after my news conference of 14^th October, 2015 where he decided to skew the facts, he said he (Dr. Callistus Mahama) as Head of Service, had no hand in the appointment and promotion of Coordinating Directors, because it was purely the job of the Public Services Commission. Interesting! Again, under section 1.4 of the HROM, Dr. Callistus Mahama says “The HEAD OF SERVICE reserves the right of adding to, amending or canceling from time to time any parts of this manual detailed out here as policies, procedures, laws, national regulations and trends in Human resource management change”. How does this agree with his own statement in the Foreword of the HROM or the section of the condition of service quoted above?

On disciplinary matters, when I was ambushed and hauled to a Disciplinary Committee at the Northern Regional Coordinating Council at the instance of Dr. Callistus Mahama on the advice of his ill informed advisors, I began preparing to face the committee and what I uncovered was another mark of Dr. Callistus Mahama’s legendary gross incompetence. Let me thank those who advice me to appear before that committee. My initial instinct was to be defiant and not attend because I felt it was just going to be a tool for victimisation. I have been vindicated and it was also a good thing that I attended hence my gratitude.

I actually got confused as to which of the protocols to rely on. Section 49 of the conditions of service states that “The composition of the Disciplinary Committee shall be as follows: a) Legal/Human Resource Director or his/her representative; b) Head of Department of staff concerned; c) Representative of local union or staff association;

d) Any other senior staff appointed by management”. Part IV, Procedure B of Dr. Callistus Mahama’s code of conduct states that “A Disciplinary Committee at the Regional level shall be constituted in the following manner:

a. A Regional Coordinating Director nominated by the Disciplinary Authority as Chairperson;

b. The District Chief Executive from the District of the Complainant;

c. Regional Human Resource Director/District Human Resource Director;

d. The District Coordinating Director or an officer acting in that capacity shall act as the investigative body;

e. A representative of the Staff Union”.

Apart from the lack of clarity and contradiction in the composition of disciplinary committees, reading that of the code of conduct one might think that there is one for the District or National level but I tell you there is none in the code. What did I do? I decided to base my arguments on what is contained in the code of conduct because the committee was at the regional level. I hope you have also realised the confusion even in the composition as quoted above with specific reference to (b) and (d). If you say “District of the COMPLAINANT” what do you really mean? And must there be a complainant before disciplinary actions can be instituted? And if there is no complainant, what happens? So, for instance, in my case who was the complainant? Dr. Callistus Mahama and the service, I guess because I have now been told I was bringing his name and the service into disrepute for saying he is incompetent at my press conference! Funny!! Again if you say “The District Coordinating Director or an officer acting in that capacity shall act as the investigative body”, what is that? And what is the whole purpose of the committee then? This is a joke and we must get serious as a service. One part of me feels insulted that I am part of this mess of a service and another part says be consoled because you are acting to get these things changed. Being a head of a service is more than galloping around claiming glory. It is about leadership and for me currently LGS leadership is paralysed as someone puts it.

For me apart from the incompetence, my experience in the service tells me these lapses can also be attributed to someone’s personal interest. Personal interest in the sense that there was some money to be spent in the production of these documents and someone wanting to “chop alone” sat in his bedroom and produce them without consulting anybody. I hope you remember “Because of chop leff, dem de job leff” which I discussed in one of my earlier write ups!

I just cannot stop writing and something tells me I need a Part VI of this series but no; I think I have proving beyond all reasonable doubt that I was not blowing hot air at my news conference but knew what I was talking about when I said Dr. Callistus Mahama should be sacked for incompetence. I think the ball is now in his court for him to, like Dzifa Attivor, do the honourable thing even if he is not sacked since I have justified my claim with verifiable facts. That is the mark of a man of principles! You dare me, I prove you wrong and you act accordingly.

As I conclude because conclude I must (copying one of the great men of Africa in our time- Prof. PLO Lumumba) I pledge to do the bidding of mother Ghana more vigorously in 2016. It is a year of divine action for me. As I close on this series now, I will now direct my energies to what we can do as a people to ensure an efficient Local Government System that will be responsive to the needs of the people while pursuing my struggle against injustice in the system by exposing the many ills in our public sector today. As I said before, it is a call to duty and I am not stopping at the instance of man. A HAPPY 2016!

Hmmmmm... Payment of outrageous rates for accommodation per day for conferences held in Cape Coast and Sunyani at the later part of 2015 has caught the eye of yours truly and I have already established rates for accommodation in these regional capitals. Details later! I shall surely be back.

Charles A. Akurugu
[email protected]