A Former President of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG), George Kyei Baffour says he has been vindicated in the ousting of Local Government and Rural Development Minister Akwesi Oppong Fosu.
George Kyei Baffuor had questioned the competence of Mr. Oppong Fosu when he was appointed Local Government Minister by President John Mahama.
He told Citi News then that, “He [Akwesi Oppong Fosu] is a fine gentleman but in terms of his ability to push the local governance system to the level of expectation, I have some reservations because there are numerous challenges confronting local government in this country and I doubt whether that demeanour of a person like Hon. Akwasi Opong Fosu will be able to rise up to that occasion”.
President John Mahama relieved Mr. Opong Fosu of his post in his latest ministerial reshuffle announced Thursday.
Industry watchers have linked his dismissal to the current waste management crisis in Accra, and other parts of the country.
His Ministry has also been criticised for awarding a questionable contract to I.T firm, Subah Info-solutions.
Speaking to Citi News, the former NALAG President and Member of Parliament for Asutifi North said he was not surprised with President Mahama’s action because, “he [Oppong Fosu] was not the person that could drive decentralization”
According to him, the President should have appointed somebody “with the requisite clout in the party and government because decentralization is not just a joke. It’s about rescuing resources, rescuing human capital from the centre to the periphery and no government will let go some of these things.”
He maintained that Ghana “needs somebody who has the requisite clout to be able to drag it so I thought Mr Oppong Fosu did not have it at the time he was appointed”.
Meanwhile, government has downplayed assertions that Akwesi Oppong Fosu was sacked because of incompetence.
By: Eugenia Tenkorang/citifmonline.com/Ghana