POTAG’s threatened strike action is politically motivated.

It is very amazing that even after the serious campaigning and electioneering era has elapsed, some institutions in Ghana would stop to nothing but rather continue to militate against all efforts that have the tendencies of putting the lives of Ghanaians on a very high pedestal; though one cannot state emphatically that the strike actions that are being recorded by the Ghana Medical Association (GMA),judicial services, university teachers association of Ghana (UTAG), etc. some months back, were politically motivated, I can state without any sort of trepidation or doubt that the one being threatened by the POTAG Kumasi Polytechnic chapter, is. If Ghanaians could remember, just some months ago, this same Chairman of the POTAG Kumasi polytechnic chapter, Mr. Edmund Oppong Peprah, descended heavily on the President H.E. John Dramani Mahama, chastising him of not knowing true state of the Ghanaian polytechnic education; later did he (Mr. Edmund oppong peprah) realized that he was publicly showcasing his polished-ignorance when it comes to matters relating to technical universities that are intended to be institutionalized by the Mahama led administration.

Why would he (Mr. Edmund Oppong Peprah), the POTAG Chairman for the Kumasi Polytechnic want to always make headlines with unnecessary comments and threatened strike actions?

Last year, he was identified to have announced a strike action at his local chapter without any confirmation from the National quarters of POTAG; this was an action that many believed were politically motivated as it immediately followed the youth forum that was held on the premises of the Kumasi Polytechnic campus ( Mr. Edmund Oppong Peprah’s backyard), prior to which there was a meeting held between the then Student Representative Council (SRC) president of the institution (Kumasi Polytechnic), the POTAG Chairman (Mr. Edmund Oppong Peprah) and some leading members of the NPP including Gideon Boako, the Ashanti Regional Youth Organizer of the NPP. That strike was extended to a while, and had the then SRC President of the Kumasi Polytechnic, Prince Charles who was part of the mischievous meeting including some leading members of the NPP, was jumping from one radio station to another, blaming the government for not considering the plight of Polytechnic students, all in their quest of making the government unpopular. Do not the national POTAG and its members;

realize that the Kumasi Polytechnic POTAG Chairman, Mr. Edmund Oppong Peprah is putting the name of their Association into disrepute, and thus the need for him to be reprimanded? This, I leave to the thinking and judgment of all well meaning POTAG members.

The recent strike threat by the POTAG Chairman in question is yet another evidence to showing how politically motivated the actions of POTAG Kumasi Polytechnic and its members have been. The questions that keep reflecting in my mind as well as that of all well meaning Ghanaians are;

Is it possible for the tail of a body to dictate the pace for its head? Structure wise, can it ever be prudent for a sub-committee or chapter to decide and dictate how a National Committee must go? Is that what is happening to POTAG? I am sure that the interests of the majority of POTAG members override the parochial political interests of some few, located somewhere in the Kumasi District of the Ashanti region; some people need to be reprimanded, less they run down the integrity of all POTAG members with the political blander of drawing back the agenda for making Ghana a better place to live. I fear for Ghana, our motherland, if this is how associations with national characteristics like POTAG would be threading.

Though POTAG and other agitating labour associations may have some points for their claims, until their leaders begin to differentiate between their parochial political interests and the general national interests of their members, their cases would always be considered political, more especially when some of them (leaders of various labour fronts) have been either parliamentary candidacy aspirants or branch or polling stations card bearing members of the main opposition NPP party.

Ghana deserves more than we are experiencing today, in terms of labour agitations which are characterized with political interests that are intended to make the government unpopular; why wouldn’t people consider the development of Ghana but rather interested in making their political masters happy to the detriment of the ordinary Ghanaians. I just cannot imagine how great Ghana would be , when we all wake up one day to realize the need for all and sundry, to burry individual political interests and uphold national interests, what a united , great and a happy country Ghana would be?

May I employ the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) and other labour agitating fronts including POTAG Kumasi Polytechnic chapter, to rescind on the ongoing strike and threatened actions that are characterized with Political interests, as those actions tend to tarnish the hard won reputation of all government laborers. This I believe would be specifically be in their interest and that of the Ghanaian populace at large, less I humbly suggest to the government to take a swift action towards addressing such unwarranted actions, even if includes withholding undeserving salaries of those who fail to get back to their duties at the expense of the ordinary Ghanaians.

God save Ghana, and make our nation great and strong.

Ahmed Musah.

Member (Asawase Constituency NDC Communication Team). 0277746279 / 0267571107.