A former Deputy Minister for Employment and Labour Relations under the erstwhile Mahama-administration has expressed disagreement at persons who still hold the position that government’s appointments are preserved for old people: a no go area for the youth.
Alhaji Mohammed Baba Jamal was emphatic “this time, a lot of things and experience come before age so I don’t agree with those views that age is the determining factor when it comes to appointments”.
The former Member of Parliament for Akwatia Constituency in the Eastern Region was reacting to perception that the NDC lost the 2016 general elections due to the appointments of young people in Mahama’s administration.
He told Onua FM’s Yen Nsempa host, Bright Asempa that “age matters because it comes with experience but age is not the yardsticks to use to measure the person’s competence. I wonder why somebody will determine that someone is young, he has no sense so he can’t manage a position”.
Baba Jamal said “we have very young leaders who have proven to be competent. Competence and experience comes through age, education and even where they grew up so when we use age, it is not something we should give too much priority to in appointments”.
The former Deputy Local Government and Rural Development Minister said “I find it difficult for anybody to want to determine a person’s ability and competence based on his age. Yes, positions come with experience but we must consider competencies first”.
“We have a 23 year old lady in parliament but we have 80-years people in his constituency but they voted for her”, Baba Jamal noted.
On the performance of the appointees of former President Mahama, Baba Jamal explained that “if you chose people, you will by all means get faults on some of them. There is never a situation where you will not have a challenge with the people you choose to work with. Some may do things the way he [President Mahama] expects, others may do things that may satisfy the President so it is for the president to assess his people and say I will work with you when I come back to power”.
The former Deputy General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) said “not all who worked with him worked to the satisfaction of the president and not all of us also worked to the dissatisfaction of the president.
“Some were ministers, appointees, presidential staffers, MMDCEs and party executives”, he observed.
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