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Professor Ransford Gyampo, an associate professor in the political science department of the University of Ghana says the National Identification Authority (NIA) boss, Professor Ken Attafuah should not be made to apologise over claims that the president had ordered him not to employ any NPP executive.

Professor Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah has been facing a heavy backlash from some leading members of the NPP, including the vociferous MP Ken Agyapong, after claiming he has been ordered by the president not to employ any NPP executive at the NIA.

“The President, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has charged me that I should make sure no party executives are hired in the process,” Attafuah told  Angel FM.

He added, “He does not want to leave a legacy of employing his party members and packing them into a particular sector. No.”

But reacting to the development, Gyampo said “Our battle against poverty and underdevelopment has been fought and lost partly because oftentimes we have recruited square pegs into round holes in our appointments.

“Appointments over the years…have been driven by partisan considerations. I’ve had the opportunity to engage with appointees and you ask yourself so how did this person land this particular appointment or this job because they demonstrate quite a shallowness and lack of depth in their grasp over the issues. So some of us have always been saying that appointment to ministries, departments and agencies must always be driven by meritocracy.”

He said, “I was pleased to hear that Professor Attafuah said the president had given him those marching orders not be making appointments on partisan consideration. I thought it was something good that the president said. If for nothing at all, the president wants to leave a certain legacy.

“My position is that the president may have given those instructions to Attafuah, in my view, he should have just implemented these instructions on the quiet. But coming out publicly to make these pronouncements would also necessarily infuriate those through whose support you got your job. So that is how come he is suffering this kind of backlash. I think that he shouldn’t be made to apologise.” 

Gyampo added, “The thing had already been thrown out in the public domain. The politically wise thing the NPP can do is to turn it into their advantage; calling on party foot soldiers to try to improve themselves…”

“Basic sensitivity”
Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, a leading member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), is admonishing supporters of the party to be measured in their criticism of the executive secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA).

In a Facebook post, Otchere-Darko said party supporters must rather see the positive aspect of the statement instead of launching a scathing attack on the NIA boss.

“We should go easy on Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah. He clearly could have phrased his words intelligently and with basic sensitivity,” Otchere-Darko said.

“NPP should not fight this, NPP should rather see the positive spin in what he meant to say which is that for this party it is Ghana first. If you are good at what you do and can be trusted to work in accordance with the mandate and direction of the government and specifically the said institution, don’t think only a party card can get you in. That’s how we build a nation.”

He also advised the NIA boss to apologise for his comment to put the matter to rest.