Let cool heads prevail on appointment of new SSNIT boss and judge him by his leadership and performance

The recent appointment and elevation of Mr. Kofi Bosompem Osafo-Maafo to the position of Director General of SSNIT, from his position as a Deputy Director General in charge of Investment and Development, continues to generate some public rancour and bashing especially among NPP faithful.

Much as their sentiments are welcome in the space of democratic and free speech dispensation, I believe the twist on his appointment is not in the best interest of corporate professional development.

I, therefore, urge the public to let cool heads prevail and focus and judge him on his capacity and knowledge to professionally drive SSNIT to achieve the desired objective in the “administration of Social Protection Schemes in Africa and beyond” for purposes of providing “income security for workers in Ghana through excellent business practices.”

Unfortunately, people’s responsibility in political administration, governance, public service leadership, and institutional development is now judged quickly by people in terms of family and friends’ association rather than the capacity to deliver on their expected mandates and performance deliverables.

This continues to let public servants go scot-free when they fail to perform simply because everything now in leadership and performance is reduced to family and friends’ association and pure political colourization.

I believe the public is not questioning Kofi’s capacity and experience that the President is convinced is appropriate for the next phase that he wants SSNIT to be, hence his appointment. His only condemnation from the public rancour is that he is one of the sons of the Senior Presidential Advisor, Hon Yaw Osafo-Maafo.

What those with problems about his appointment forget is that political leadership and public service also hinge on the effective loyalty and reliability of those you appoint to serve under your leadership.

I think the family line of Osafo-Maafo has been very loyal and dedicated to the discourse of Ghana’s development from the time of pre-independence to date in every government, public service, and social grouping that has come.

The likes of the late J. E. Bosompem who was the first black clerk of Parliament in the pre-independence era, the famous late D.C. Kwame Kwakye (during President Nkrumah’s era), the late K. K. Anti (during Prime Minister Busia’s time), Dr. Isaac Kofi Adjei-Maafo (in the era of President Rawlings), Dr. Kwakye-Maafo (Now Nana Ohemeng Awere IV, Assin Nsutahene, from President Rawlings to date), the late comedian Bob Santo and Hon Osafo-Maafo himself and their relatives, cannot be decimated in any way as far the Ghanaian society is concerned.

Today, we have many young people from that lineage serving in various areas of Ghanaian society including myself who are working not because of family relationships but based on their capacity, hard work, and professional interest.

The moment any of such people get recognized by the leadership to serve in any capacity of our national development, the ugly herring would surely be raised to link them with one person in the family or the other, and not based on their contribution and interests.

Osafo-Maafo’s personal commitment and professional work to Ghana’s development is rated among the first 5% of post-independence Ghana. For over 50 years he has provided many selfless services to get Ghana on the map of global development. So, for his son who has equally followed the father’s footprint in working his way through the ranks as one of the dedicated members of the NPP-UK during the pre-and post-President Kufour’s era to suffer this bashing is very much unfortunate.

Let us isolate Osafo-Maafo from his son and judge him [Kofi] per his own accord and capacity that President Akufo-Addo saw in him and tasked him to assist Dr. Koranteng since 2017, and now scaling that confidence in him to take the mantle to lead SSNIT into its glory.

This is the only way we can ascertain whether he has delivered and performed creditably to make the Ghanaian workers and pensioners worth their sweat. The moment we ignore his skills and capacity to bring something new to SSNIT, we will end up allowing him to go scot-free when he failed to deliver simply because we have already condemned him and there is no way he can be punished him once again for we have already taken our pound of flesh from him.

This is how many people abuse their position and leave institutions worse of than they came to meet and yet no sanctions are proffered, and they go away to enjoy at the expense of the public they are made to serve.

It is important to stress that in politics, there is a beneficial interest in loyalty and service and people will always be remembered and favored by the deed and toil of their forefathers.

In the Bible and the Quran, many refreshing messages exist to support redemption and favors given to people not because of their responses, but by the hard work and dedication of their fathers to a course. This is a message urging us all not to sit on the fence because your hard work today could be the investment that your children and children’s children could make in the future.

The most important thing is that whilst we are struggling with the masses in the interest of society, we should also encourage our children to prepare themselves for the life after us.

I do not believe that the President would have appointed Kofi Osafo-Maafo to that skillful and technically driven position to manage and administer workers' and pensioners' resources simply because he is the son of his long-standing ally and political advisor without any effort, capacity, and commitment by Kofi himself towards that public service.

Knowing that he has the responsibility to sustain the legacy of his father, he [Kofi] has carefully and mindfully followed his father’s shadows; he has over the past 30 years built himself professionally in both private and public service like the father. His experiences, deliveries, and performances as a leading executive in investment and assets portfolio leadership providing high-level advisory services in the banking and non-banking financial sectors are very reassuring and inspiring.

Kofi Bosompem Osafo-Maafo has over the years travelled across the globe providing various corporate strategic and implementation advice to high-profile institutions like the Unicredit Bank London, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, HSBC, Halbis Capital, F&C Asset Management, on various commodity financing, investing, and restructuring, etc, before his assumption as the Deputy Director-General of SSNIT.

I do not believe for once that his time with SSNIT as deputy in charge of Investment and Development and his specific roles and responsibilities are by any means engulfed with mediocrity and a square peg in a round hole. Those who have questions about his performance should come out clearly on it so the appropriate institutions can deal with him before his full assumptions as the SSNIT D-G. This way, we all help to build the Ghana we want and leave for our posterity for them to be proud of us as their forefathers.

On this note, much as there are tens of thousands of Ghanaians capable of fitting the SSNIT boss position, there can be only one at a time, and favour has worked in the interest of Kofi Osafo-Maafo. Let us all support the wisdom of the President so that one day when your child is also favoured by God causing a leader to appoint him or her for an assignment based on his capacity, knowledge, skills, and relationship with the corporate environment, the fingers pointing at Kofi wrongly today will not do so much harder than this to him or her.

Let us have cool heads prevail, and judge Kofi based on his performance and end product, in the course of his services, whether he would make the Ghanaian workers and pensioners better off or not.