Senior Minister designate, Yaw Osafo Marfo has revealed that the Akufo Addo-led government will not hessitate in sacking all public sector workers whose names were put on the payroll after December 2016.
According to him, he as the leader of the then incoming New Patriotic Party (NPP) Transitional Team agreed with the former Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah who headed the Transitional Team of the then outgoing National Democratic Congress (NDC) government that there should not be any employment and procurement after the new President had been declared, in order to ensure a smooth transition exercise.
There have been numerous reports that the NDC government after losing the December 7 elections employed several persons into the public sector.
Former Deputy Attorney General and former MP for Nsuta Kwamang Beposo, Osei Kwame Prempeh for instance alleged on Oman FM that the NDC administration employed as much as 11,000 workers in the public sector between December 7, 2016 and January 7, 2017.
“The recruitment was done in the Tema Port too and all these happened during the transition period,” he said.
According to him, it was because of this last minute employment that NPP supporters decided to besiege some public institutions, threatening to eject the workers.
Speaking during his vetting in Accra on Friday, Hon. Osafo Marfo who’s also a former Finance Minister during the esrtwhile Kufour Administration stated that the NPP Transition Team had a big problem with the employment last-minute employment that happened under the NDC government.
“We really didn’t want to shout over these things because we wanted a smooth transition, but naturally these things can be and should be reviewed…it is a matter of course. There’s a payroll for every department and every institution in this country, so if I’m appointed as the new Minister and you’re not on the payroll till December the day of the election, and you appear on the payroll for January…then when were you enagaged? You’re going to create a problem, the minister is likely to say that all those who were not on the payroll by a particular date, I’ll do away with their services…I can see that happening. If they’ve been engaged long ago and they were just resuming for whatever reason, they’ll be time to rationalize. If names appear on the payroll after December we’ll definately lay them off quietly.”
