Isaac Bampo Addo, Executive Secretary, Civil and Local Government Staff Association (CLOGSAS), says the appointment of political apparatchiks to positions in Civil and Local Government Services is the cause of policy failures.

“Political apparatchiks and ‘goro’ boys have been made to take positions in Civil and Local Government Services, and this has impacted negatively on the fortunes of government, necessitating the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).”

Mr Bampo made this observation when he delivered a Christmas message at the CLOGSAG end-of-year thanksgiving service.

He said the Civil and Local Government Services were both at the heart of local and central government and that if any part of government machinery was corrupted, it would affect the whole system, noting that, “most of these apparatchiks have exhibited political party loyalty, as against neutrality, professionalism, efficiency, and integrity requires by both Services.”

The Executive Secretary noted that the way the domestic debt exchange was handled had raised pertinent issues and concerns, which should not be left unattended to.

“Some issues, including the possibility that some corporate trustees had prior knowledge of the DDEP and were able to convert their domestic bond holdings into either foreign assets or foreign currency, changed their corporate holding into individual holding and changed their bond holdings into cash issue for interrogation.”

According to Mr Bampo, the government chose DDEP as an answer to its inability to service the domestic debt liability when it could have curtailed its flagship programmes which would have gone a long way to exhibit willingness on the part of government to live within its means.

“We have noted that government has exempted pensions funds from the DDEP, however, if government should fail to honour any of our coupons, when due, CLOGSAG will embark on an indefinite nationwide strike.”

He urged the members to be calm and go about their normal duties with diligence and called on the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) to investigate the issues raised.