NPP to Govt: Taxi Drivers Are Also Persons

On Wednesday, a Deputy Minister of Information, James Agyenim-Boateng,

insulted Ghanaian taxi drivers.



Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, the young deputy Minister,

said unlike the Kufuor government, the Mills-Mahama administration has not

appointed taxi drivers to manage the nation’s affairs.



The New Patriotic Party is calling on the President to act on his words this

time and reprimand the Deputy Minister for these unwarranted insults to

Ghanaian taxi drivers.



It is just another example of the arrogance of power that the ruling NDC,

under its see-no-evil, hear-no-evil-by-my-people President John Evans Atta

Mills.



It is this same arrogance that had another deputy minister insulting

Ghanaians in cocoa-growing areas as primitive and uncultured. Yet, it is the

labour and fruit of these same cocoa farmers that have educated millions of

Ghanaians from colonial days and continue to do so. The least President

Mills and his people can do is to respect them. They do not deserve to be

insulted by the appointees of the President of the Republic.



Is it not ironic that the NDC, which calls itself social democrats and have

spent propaganda time and energy falsely describing the NPP as elitist,

should now, in power, turn around and criticize the NPP for appointing taxi

drivers as government officials.



The NPP believes in building a society of opportunities for all. We believe

that with education come opportunities, that is why we are committed to

making sure that the potential of every Ghanaian child, regardless of his or

her circumstances of birth, should be assisted and encouraged to blossom.



Indeed, many Ghanaians, both at home and abroad, who did not have the

opportunity or privilege to climb the academic ladder through uninterrupted

education, for one reason or the other, do go on to combine work with

education and they must be encouraged.



They may sell on the streets of Accra, clean offices in London, serve as

security guards in Amsterdam, work as factory hand in Hamburg, or drive

taxis in New York. But, they so with one eye on improving themselves so that

they may one day rise to the top of the social ladder.



Some have risen to become Cabinet Ministers and we are happy to have

facilitated that and we hope that will encourage more and more Ghanaians to

see education, including adult education, as not time-bound. Ghanaians

should also know that in the NPP you can be a taxi driver and still rise to

the top.



Everyday sees the NDC exposing itself as a hypocritical, deceptive and

dishonest team of incompetent people who have lied their way to office and

their way of paying Ghanaians back is to insult them.



It has gotten so bad that young people, who until 2009, had never held a

full time permanent job, lack experience, but are now government officials

feel so superior to the people they are supposed to serve that they can now

insult Ghanaians who are struggling to make ends meet and better their

lives.



After insulting the nation that the Mills-Mahama administration has created

1.6 million ghost jobs, government officials have gone a step further by

insulting hardworking Ghanaians.



If all that Government can do is to increase the burden on commercial

drivers by increasing fuel prices, we are asking them to not add insults to

injuries by insulting commercial drivers on top of that.



There are several taxi drivers, in Ghana and abroad, who are educating

themselves further or are already good enough to also wear a tie and coat

like the Agyenim-Boatengs of the Mills-Mahama government. What is

Government’s message to them? That they should also begin raining insults

because that is the only way that they can be noticed by Professor Mills to

be considered good enough for an appointment?



Some people do the work they do because of the circumstances they find

themselves in. Some are proud of the work they do and they all contribute to

building a nation. Let us not degrade and insult them.



Agyenim-Boateng must be ashamed of himself. There are government officials,

including Ministers of State, who are rather using their period in office,

while being paid by taxpayers, to further their education. If the Ghanaian

people are not complaining about that then the least such government

officials should do is not to insult those who have chosen to educate

themselves before any future appointment.



Those who decide to prepare themselves before they are offered appointments

should be encouraged rather than insulted. We should not encourage them to

learn from a government that has been characterized by incompetence, lies

and arrogance.



Agyenim-Boateng should apologise to all Ghanaian taxi drivers for raining

such strong unprovoked attack on them. We will urge Ghanaians, including

taxi drivers, to go on working hard and that there is a brighter future

ahead of them after 2012.



Signed

Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey

National Chairman, NPP