Sack Sports Minister now - Mahama urged

In Ghana, like many African countries, it is rare to see senior public officials like ministers of state resign their post after goofing or messing up.

It is against this background that some concerned and highly respected stakeholders in the politics of this Ghana, are urging His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama to, as a matter of urgency, sack Mr. Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, Minister of Youth and Sports.

Many of these stakeholders who called The Informer, first of all praised the paper for being a watchdog of public interest.

Defending their call for the immediate dismissal of Mr. Afriyie-Ankrah, they said the Sports Minister, in whose bosom the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) rests, has exhibited gross incompetence when he found out that the scheme’s Acting Chief Executive, Mr. Kobby Acheampong, had unilaterally defied the President’s directive that all modules under GYEEA except sanitation, should be put on hold.

According to them, should Kobby Acheampong be sack for insubordination of having unilaterally advertised, soliciting for proposals for a new ICT module under GYEEDA, he must certainly go with Mr. Elvis Ankrah since he is on record to have done same.

“Today, people are calling for the dismissal of Kobby and I laughed. It’s funny because, should the ax fall, Elvis must be the first victim, having also unilaterally increased some fees for a service provider under GYEEDA, when the contract had expired,” one of them stated.

“Inasmuch as I condemn Kobby for his act of mutiny in advertising for proposals for a new ICT segment under the scheme, Elvis has done worse and must not be left off the hook,” he added.

Apart from the call for Mr. Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah to be dismissed, the stakeholders who want to remain anonymous; have also advised the President to punish the Acting GYEEDA boss for disobeying his orders.

As promised, The Informer with credible documents in its possession, will make public in the coming days, how Elvis Afriyie Ankrah unilaterally increased fees and allowances of a service provider when his predecessors have refused to do so.

Kobby’s Blunder

In an absolute disrespect, Mr. Kobby Acheampong, the care-taker boss of GYEEDA, unilaterally placed an advert in the Thursday April 3, 2014 of the state owned Daily Graphic, inviting proposals for a new ICT offer under the scheme, when the President had warned against any such contract until a total reform and evaluation, as well as road map is presented on GYEEDA.

The said advert carried on page 43 of Thursday April 3, 2014 Daily Graphic, spelling out details on the request for proposals for the new GYEEDA ICT training component; for reasons best known to Kobby Acheampong, has its closing date boldly captured to be March 30, 2014.

In fact, many stakeholders were surprised upon seeing the advert because of a directive issued by the President in the wake of the GYEEDA-rot that had attracted some bad publicity globally.

Concerns were raised as to whether appropriate legislative work on GYEEDA has been done, evaluation carried out on all the modules and most crucial, whether a well-structured road map have been presented for onward communication to the general public.

Following the concerns raised, it came out that Mr. Kobby Acheampong had acted unilaterally, forcing government to issue a statement in cancellation of the advert placed by the Acting GYEEDA boss.

The swift reaction by the President in withdrawing the advert has since placed Mr. Kobby Acheampong in a bad light with his gross insubordination, as many are calling for his dismissal.