Minister Sees Nothing Wrong With Using Political Aides

Deputy Employment Minister, Bright Wireko-Brobbey, has justified the decision by some public officers to use political assistants in the delivery of their tasks, countering the claim by civil servants that they have been rendered jobless.

Mr. Wireko-Brobbey says there is nothing wrong with a Minister's decision to work with someone s/he is comfortable with, at the expense of civil servants who have been recruited to perform similar responsibilities.

“To the best of my knowledge, every civil servant that we have come to meet in office is still at work but if you [Minister] find that in the course of your work you need technical inputs and you need to get a technical person…and if the person is assisting the crop of people you have I don’t see anything wrong with that,” he stated on Upfront, a current affairs programme on JoyNews TV.

The Civil and Local Government Staff Association, Ghana (CLOGSAG) had on May 1, 2018, given a two-week ultimatum to ministers to come clear on the responsibilities of their special assistants, since those special assistants appear to have taken over the roles of civil servants.

According to CLOGSAG, many civil servants had been sidelined, while special assistants had taken over their responsibilities, leaving the civil servants in a situation where they were unable to function properly after a change of government or after any ministerial reshuffle.

Read: Replacing civil servants with political appointees unacceptable – Minority Leader

Chairman of CLOGSAG, Isaac Bampoe-Addo addressing the media

However, Mr. Wireko-Brobbey has refuted the claim by CLOGSAG that jobs of their members have been taken over by these ‘Special Assistants’.

“It’s not happening [and] I don’t think that it is happening,” he told host of the progrmme, Raymond Acquah.

“I am paying my own research assistant,” he revealed in a response to a question from the host seeking to find out who bears the responsibility paying those political aides.

The Deputy Employment and Labour Relations Minister also said his office has not received any official communication from CLOGSAG, save the series of news conferences held by the leadership of the association.

Watch the full programme below: