General Secretary of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU), Solomon Kotei, has said “the position of the executive secretary of the National Labour Commission (NLC) should not be politicised.”
He made this statement in the wake of the recent appointment of Mr. Ofosu Asamoah, former MP for Kade, to the position of the Executive Secretary of the National Labour Commission.
Speaking on Eezy FM’s Morning Edition last week Friday, he expressed worry over the seat of the executive secretary at the NLC becoming a ‘political’ seat, and being subjected to manipulations by succeeding governments.
“What ICU is asking, is that seat going to become a political colour to be won by everybody? he quizzed.
He added that “the current Executive Secretary, Mr. Charles Adongo Bawa Duah, was an NDC activist, he contested some primaries and lost yet when he applied [for the position] there was no condition as to say do you have any party affiliation and he was given the job.”
“The Executive Secretary acts as the Chief Executive Officer of the labour commission. He organises the commissioners and the workers and sits in every meeting of the commission and having Mr. Ofosu Asamoah there will come with a political persuasion to sway outcomes of the commission’s meeting in favour of the incumbent government,” Mr. Kotei said.
Describing the sensitive nature of the position, he indicated there was likely to be the miscarriage of judgment.
The Public Service Commission which is mandated by the constitution to make appointments to the said office had its powers usurped with the recent appointment of Mr. Ofosu Asamoah.
When questioned by Host of Eezy Morning Edition, Larry Benson, Solomon Kotei revealed that the letter presented to them from the presidency bore the Coat of Arms with the signature of Asante Bediatuo, the Executive Secretary, to the President and not the President.
In his words, “it came to us a surprise that the letter which came from the presidency, granted that the letter was from the president, exercising his executive powers, we would not have any concern because he has been clothed by the 1992 Constitution to do that but this one, the entire letter, if you read it, there is nowhere that it is indicated that it is the President,” he lamented.
The only heterogeneous union in the country, ICU, comprising 85,000 members who are drawn from various sectors – from banking to the media – is resolute in ensuring that due procedures are adhered to in the matter.
He again cautioned that this issue could become an unhealthy precedent that succeeding governments may want to emulate, thereby festering the concept of equalisation which stalls the nation’s development.
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