President John Mahama
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has demanded of President John Mahama “to stop the ongoing terminations of appointments in the Public Service.”
In a statement on the subject and signed by the Secretary-General, Joshua Ansah, the congress pointed out that “the mass termination of employment of teachers, nurses and others, who have been educated at great cost to their families and the nation and who may have stayed at home for years struggling to obtain employment can be devastating for these young men and women.”
The development, the TUC went on, “is a blot on our democratic credentials. It can also completely sap the patriotism of these young men and women.”
The President, the TUC said, should “stop the country from sliding further down the partisan slippery hill.” Just like the amnesty the President has granted to individuals who were recruited by the previous administration and who are currently undergoing training with the various security agencies, the TUC urged President Mahama to do same for others appointed by the previous administration.
This, the TUC said, “will be the greatest political settlement of the 4th Republic. It will ripple in eternity and reset the politics of Ghana.”
The revocation of appointments followed a directive to that effect from the Chief of Staff and covered the appointments that were done before December 7, 2024.
In some of the organisations, people who have been on contract for five years or more and whose appointments were only regularised in December, 2024 have been terminated, losing even their contract status, the statement pointed out.
The directive by the Chief of Staff, according to the TUC, “is very problematic, to say the least. Not only is his directive open to abuse but we find it extremely difficult to understand how Government could describe all appointments or recruitments made after December 7, 2024 as not in compliance with good governance practices and principles.”
The issue of midnight appointments/recruitments has been a recurring practice that has alternated between the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the statement went on.
“In 2016, when H.E. John Dramani Mahama met with the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference after the elections, he insisted that he remained the President and was responsible for steering the affairs of the country until he officially hands over power on January 7, 2017. He appointed new Commissioners for CHRAJ and NCCE, and a new Auditor General. He even increased allowances for National Service Personnel,” the TUC recalled.