Controller and Accountant-General is a govt appointee, nothing stops him from contesting in NPP primary – Ahiagbah

The Director of Communications of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Richard Ahiagbah has said nothing stops the Controller and Accountant-General Kwasi Kwaning-Bosompem from contesting in the upcoming parliamentary primary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

He says that Mr Kwaning-Bosompem’s situation is a unique one because he is not a civil servant in the true sense of the phrase.

“Where he sits he is not in a true sense a civil servant, he is a government appointee, so he is not in the normal sense a civil servant serving the nation.

“His situation is unique, nothing precludes him from running on the ticket of the NPP,” Mr Ahiagbah said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, December 30 while commenting on the class for the resignation of Mr Kwaning-Bonsompem.

The Civil and Local Government Staff Association (CLOGSAG) has demanded the resignation of the Controller and Accountant-General for engaging in partisan politics.

Executive Secretary of CLOGSAG, Isaac Bampoe Addo stated that per the Civil Service regulations in Ghana, no Civil Servant is permitted to engage in active partisan politics while still in active service.

Some Civil Servants have been dismissed for engaging in open partisan politics hence the Controller and Accountant-General, Mr Kwaning-Bosompem must also leave office, he added.

Mr Bosompem picked nomination forms to contest the New Patriotic Party’s parliamentary primaries in the Akim Swedru Constituency.

He picked up the forms on Wednesday, December 20.

Speaking in an interview with TV3’s Daniel Opoku, CLOGSAG’s Executive Secretary, Mr Bampoe Addo said “This is not an issue that is coming from CLOGSAG, there is a Supreme Court ruling on Neutrality Act 2017, what the Supreme Court said was that no Civil Servant must indulge in partisan activities.

“The Supreme Court also said that nobody should owe his appointment or promotion to partisan activities. We have had situations where civil servants who have indulged in partisan activities have been dismissed. We also have situations where political appointees have been appointed into Civil Service positions. What has happened to them? That is what we should be talking about.

“I am a member of the Civil Service Council, we have dismissed Civil Servants who have indulged in partisan activities.

“The Constitution says that as and when your political colours are overtly known, you must leave the Service.”