Senior Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil says concerns raised by the NDC about the nepotistic nature of the Akufo-Addo government will not stand any objective test.
Speaking on Joy FM's NewsFile, Kofi Bentil said the number of appointments the President has to make and the number of individuals the NDC provided as family and friends do not match for them to tag the administration as nepotistic.
He advised the NDC to elevate the political discourse because the nepotism debate has no value.
"If we start talking about the individuals and start doing the analysis we will be in the weeds and we won't get anywhere no objective check looking across the staffing and the appointment will show Akufo-Addo is nepotistic. If you take 6,000 as the appointees and there's even 50 that's like 1%. I think NDC should elevate the discourse because this has no value anywhere, you can't prove it and you can't cause any movement in this direction....the fact that somebody's positioning allows them to do something does not mean they have done it, Kwame Nkrumah ruled this country with an iron fist for how long but we can't point one house he had, this thing you are calling nepotism is a valued issue but it is one of the amorphous concepts in the world... at the end of the day it comes down to whether the person is qualified for the job and that is not the most important issue whether they are delivering on the job, the other aspect to it is that whether they are using the position for something that is wrong, three things is the person qualified and in political appointment that is not a big issue, are they delivering......"
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NDC earlier this week provided a list of 51 relatives and cronies within the Akufo-Addo government.
At a press conference on Tuesday, the National Communications Officer Sammy Gyamfi listed the names which he said point to “classic and unprecedented†nepotism within the Akufo-Addo government.
The list includes the entire nuclear family of Nana Asante Bediatuo who is a cousin to the President and is also his Executive Secretary.
Sammy Gyamfi referred to Nana Akufo-Addo’s vow to eschew nepotism and cronyism, a pledge which he made in January 2016 ahead of the general elections.
“I will not operate a family and friends’ governmentâ€, he quoted the then NPP Presidential candidate.
The NDC listed relatives of the President, Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, and relatives of the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo.
The NDC National Communications Officer described the level of nepotism as amounting to “total state capture.â€
NPP reactsÂ
NPP in reaction challenged the list provided by the NDC as relatives and cronies in the Akufo-Addo government.
National Youth Organiser Nana Boakye insisted the appointments of family and relatives into government were made on the basis of competence.
READ ALSO : NPP challenges NDC's list of relatives, cronies in Akufo-Addo's gov't
“We are not sure about appointing enemies,†he said at a press conference to respond to the NDC which has released a list of 51 names of persons it claims are relatives and cronies in the Akufo-Addo government.
Calling the numbers “a classic and unprecedented†case of nepotism, the opposition party said the President, Nana Akufo-Addo has broken his promise not to run a family and friends government.
The NDC, therefore, called for the passage of an anti-nepotism bill. In reply, the NPP has pointed fingers at the NDC for starting nepotism.
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