DON'T REGARD GOVT APPOINTEES AS STOOGES (PAGE 15)

Story: George Folley Quaye, Wa

THE Upper West Regional Youth Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Hafiz Bin Salih, has said that the recent revocation of the appointment of government appointees in the region to manipulate the process for the confirmation of the President’s nominees to the position of district and municipal chief executives was alien to the political culture of the region.
He said government appointees to the assemblies must not be regarded as stooges who must always dance to the tune of the Executive arm of government.
Mr Bin Salih, who was speaking to the Daily Graphic in Wa on the activities that preceded the endorsement of the President’s nominees to the position of district chief executives (DCE) in the Wa Municipality and other districts of the region, called on all well-meaning Ghanaians to condemn such acts.
"Those who took the decision to revoke the appointment of government appointees were ill-advised and their actions, though a bad precedent, also has the tendency to further tear the NPP family in the region apart," the regional organiser said.
He further explained that government appointees to the assemblies were supposed to be knowledgeable people in some special areas in order to be able to advise their respective assemblies.
Commenting on the selection of parliamentary candidates in the Sissala East and West constituencies, Mr Bin Salih appealed to the national executive of the party to allow the regional executives to field their own candidates since anything contrary to the decision of the regional executive would spell doom for the party.
He expressed optimism that the NPP could capture more seats in the December 2008 elections in the region, but the increasing bad blood between some ministers and DCEs on one hand, and party executives on the other hand, would not augur well for the party.