The Minister in charge of Finance and Allied Institutions, Mr Fiifi Kwetey says government appointees have an obligation to defend the government in the media.
According to him, while government appointees are free to defend and speak on government policies and decisions across the media, citizens working for private sector should consider company guidelines before speaking on national issues.
“If a party appoints you to a position, you owe that position to your party so if you go on air defending that party there is nothing wrong with that. The most important thing is to ensure that the party remains in government so that you can continue working for that government in a different capacity.”
He was commenting on the suspension of Airtel Ghana’s Communications Affairs Manager, Kwame Gyan for his rants on social media about the state of the country.
He asked Kwame Gyan to either “keep mute on national issues and continue working with Airtel Ghana or express his views and leave the company.”
In his opinion, “If your company doesn’t feel comfortable with you expressing such issues, you can keep those views to yourself, or you can express them within but if you want to put it out in a way that puts your company in alight that your company doesn’t want, your company has the right to pick an action against you,”
Mr. Gyan has been suspended by Airtel Ghana for a month without pay for his comments on national issues on Facebook. Some have alleged that the suspension was due to government’s pressure on his bosses at Airtel.
The suspension has sparked public outrage with some demanding to know Airtel’s social media policy. Others have expressed fears of a possible return to the culture of silence – a period when freedom of speech was suppressed in Ghana.
According to him,“If your company doesn’t feel comfortable with you expressing such issues, you can keep those views to yourself, or you can express them within but if you want to put it out in a way that puts your company in alight that your company doesn’t want, your company has the right to pick an action against you,”
Referencing his life, Fiifi Kwetey stated “I have found myself in the same situation where I was working in a private company and of course I was very very political at that time to the extent that people knew me as a Rawlings man and an NDC person but when I started coming in the open, and wanting to speak, I reached that moment where I had no option than to step out of the company.”
Meanwhile, a Lecturer at Ashesi University, Mr. Lloyd Amoah has condemned decision, describing it as an attack on free thinking and citizenship.
“This is kind of violence is more dangerous than anything you can imagine, it is far more dangerous than anyone standing anywhere to say there should be some unlawful means of dealing with the problem that we face which is not Mr. Gyan even said.”
“It is clearly very worrying and frightening that these sentiments will become the basis upon which a very serious company will then base her policy and ask the young man to leave his workplace, “he stated.
Airtel Ghana has refused to comment on the matter saying it is an internal issue.
By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana