Former Deputy General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Obiri Boahen, has urged the government to listen to calls from former President John Agyekum Kufuor for a reshuffle.
According to Obiri Boahen, Kufuor’s advice should be treated with respect by the government and not brushed aside because of his stature in the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Speaking in an Okay FM interview monitored by GhanaWeb, the former deputy general secretary added that Kufuor’s experience as a two-term president can not be taken for granted.
“If President Kufuor, who was an MP in 1969 and has been president for two terms, is advising you on something, who am I or who are you to say you will not listen to him? Why must you be dragging his man in the mud?
“Why are you not listening to him and thinking about what he said, but you brush it off, saying you will not listen to him?
“If Kufuor makes a statement, it is like Otumfuo Osei Tutu or Yaa Naa or any of the powerful chiefs in the country speaking to his subjects; who are you to say you will not listen,” he said in Twi.
Ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor said that a president should have the confidence to sack or move his appointees from their positions if it turns out they are no longer delivering on their mandates.
According to the elderly statesman, it is the president's responsibility to ensure that when his appointees are no longer productive, he makes the difficult decision to replace them.
Responding to a question posed to him by celebrated journalist Kwaku Sakyi Addo when the former president hosted the Institute of Economic Affairs at his Peduase residence, John Agyekum Kufuor shared a classic example of how he made some major reshuffles during his tenure.
He explained that although there was an appointee who had been extremely supportive of his presidency when it mattered most, he moved her from a portfolio even though she wasn’t exactly pleased with it.
Watch the interview below: