University of Ghana, Professor Yaw Gyampo has described the directive to all public sector workers to get their Ghana Cards by December 1, or forfeit their salaries, as regimental, robotic, insensitive and a needless flex of non-existent administrative muscle by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department.
According to him, even President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the Commander in Chief of Ghana’s Armed Forces does not and cannot command public sector workers like this.
He questioned what authority the Controller and Accountant General has to give an ultimatum and issue such orders to those who toil while he enjoys.
“Are we his children? The era, when those who fed on taxpayers’ money, treated taxpayers like small boys and girls, is gone,” he said.
According to him, the order ignores the fact that it takes time for one to procure the Ghana Card as it is not sold at the supermarket.
People, he said, still have challenges in producing source documents for the identification leading to registration for the Card.
He argued the idea of having a National Identity Card that captures all data is a superb idea that must be owned by all but stressed policy ownership cannot be forced and imposed, else it creates suspicions about governmental intentions behind such policies.
Read the full write up below:
1. The directive to all public sector workers to get their Ghana Cards by December 1, or forfeit their salaries, is too regimental, robotic, insensitive and a needless flex of non-existent administrative muscle, on the part of the Controller and Accountant General’s Department.
2. Whiles many Ghanaians are yet to tame the audacity and arrogance of political power exhibited by some, if not all politicians, we are now being threatened by bureaucratic and administrative arrogance, manifesting in utopian deadlines.
3. Who authorized the Controller and Accountant General to give that ultimatum and who is the Controller and Accountant General to issue such orders to those whose toil, he enjoys? Are we his children? The era, when those who fed on tax payers’ money, treated tax payers like small boys and girls, is gone. Even the President, the Commander in Chief of Ghana’s Armed Forces does not and cannot command public sector workers like this.
4. The very order, ignores the fact that it takes time for one to procure the Ghana Card. The Ghana Card is not sold at the supermarket. People still have challenges in producing source documents for the identification leading to registration for the Card. Any public official who is ignorant about some of these difficulties isn’t fit to occupy any position of fiduciary trust.
5. The idea of having a National Identity Card that captures all our data is a superb idea that must be owned by all. But policy ownership cannot be forced and imposed, else it creates suspicions about governmental intentions behind such policies. Unfortunately, it appears there is some tacit force to compel all Ghanaians to acquire the Ghana Card at all cost. There was an exercise to register all SIM Cards in Ghana. But for whatever reasons, we are all being asked to re-register again, now using the Ghana Card as proof of identification. Whiles battling this, we are now, the Controller and Accountant-General akatsi want to tie the Card to our pay in a manner that creates all sorts of ideas in the minds of people.
6. Clearly, the National Identification has also failed in getting total public buy-in into the idea of everyone getting the Ghana Card. The way to address such failure is not to force and stampede the public into getting the Card at all cost. Rather, there should be well-thought through solutions to some of the challenges raised with the source documents for registering for the Card. In addition, there should be a revival of the currently collapsed public education about registration for the Card, to socialize the public about the need for it, rather than giving arrogant and authoritative deadlines for acquisition, which would be honoured in breach, by the already agitated public servants, who are considering the option of joining forces together to fight for better conditions of service, and bring about a certain disruption that creates a classless society, and ensure social equilibrium interns of salaries.
Yaw Gyampo
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