Hajia Alima Mahama
THE LOCAL Government Workers’ Union (LGWU) has expressed worry over what it termed as unprovoked attacks on public servants at the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) across the country.
According to LGWU such attacks have the potential of discouraging professionals from accepting postings to deprived areas.
Acting General Secretary of LGWU of Trades Union of Ghana (TUC), Godfred Nyarko Okyere, raised the concerns in a statement released to DGN Online.
It follows recent attacks on the Chereponi District Coordinating Director,
Alhaji Alhassan Fuseini.
The statement noted that “it is in this regard that the LGWU condemn in no uncertain terms the unprovoked attacks on MMDA staff with the recent one on the Chereponi District Coordinating Director and some officials of the Assembly in the North East Region.”
It recounted that “the incident occurred when the Coordinating Director, Alhaji Alhassan Fuseini was shot by some persons believed to belong to one ethnic group in the area and his vehicle set ablaze when he and the other officials were returning to Chereponi after attending a workshop in Tamale.”
The statement further noted that “there is a worrying trend these days, where public servants at the MMDA’S have become victims and suffered brutalities at the hands of factions to ethnic, chieftaincy and land disputes in some conflict prone communities across the country.”
It said “another development gaining currency in recent times, is how political activists in their attempt to register their displeasure about some political appointees at the MMDAs decides to attack and vandalise properties of the Assemblies which sometimes lead to loss of lives.”
It urged “Ghanaians who engaged in unprovoked attacks on public servants at the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to desist from such acts.”
According to the statement, “otherwise, it will continue to undermine the national effort at encouraging qualified professionals to accept postings to deprived communities.”
BY Melvin Tarlue