Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Effutu, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin
The Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Effutu, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, has raised concerns about the revocation of appointments by the John Dramani Mahama administration.
In the first month of his administration, President Mahama through his Chief of Staff Julius Debrah instructed heads of government institutions to dismiss several workers appointed by the previous Akufo-Addo government after the December 7, 2024 general election.
Following this, Afenyo-Markin says this act sets a negative precedent and has therefore questioned the president how the dismissed individuals will be able to feed themselves and their families.
According to him, those being dismissed are Ghanaians who have successfully passed interviews and worked hard to achieve their positions.
He added that employed individuals contribute to the economy, and revoking their appointments undermines this value.
He said “The goodwill our friends have must not erode rather too early or rather too soon. Again and again, to conclude, I know Mr. Julius Debrah. He himself is a private sector person, he’s a businessman who knows how when somebody is employed it adds value to the economy. So I do not think he had intended that people who have gone through aptitude tests, gone through interviews, should be sent home.
“But it is all over the place, it is all over the place that our countrymen and women, our youth, are being sent home. They went to office; they were asked to come home with these letters. Where do they find food to eat? How do they feed their families? How do they feed themselves? What is going to be their future?”
To buttress his point, Afenyo-Markin recalled a moment when President Mahama, while in opposition, criticized the Akufo-Addo government in a tweet for revoking the appointments he (Mahama) had made before leaving office.
Afenyo-Markin believes that Mahama’s words were intended to urge the government to ensure that people did not lose their jobs saying “On the strength of His Excellency John Dramani Mahama’s tweet of May 2016, 2017, I would want to adopt these words as though they were mine.
These are very veritable words that he used to crave the indulgence of the government at the time to get back to ensure that our people did not lose jobs.
And I repeat it, ‘These workers are all citizens of Ghana, and like all Ghanaians, they have rights which must be protected. One Ghana, one people’,” he asserted.
Watch Afenyo-Markin’s comments below:
VKB/EK
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