Re-Has Gonjas been neglected and Marginalised by Mahama?

I know Mahama Haruna is fast becoming a propagandist for President Mahama, always praising him in his write ups. If his feature entitled "Has Gonjas been neglected and Marginalised by Mahama?" is another propaganda piece for President Mahama then it has backfired!!

I wholly condemn Mahama Haruna's feature as inappropriate, inward-looking and unhelpful. It puts the President in an embarrassing position and betrays his own immaturity and lack of understanding of how government and politics should work. If we follow his brand of 'power distribution', Ghana would be worse of. Government simply does not work like that and in places where such nepotism has occurred throughout our country, things have not worked well and that is part of our problem.

I have read a comment somewhere by someone close to Mahama Haruna and therefore suspect the feature is meant to praise President Mahama for rising above ethnic considerations in his appointments.

The comment read: "It is heart-warming that Mahama has risen above ethnic considerations and must be encouraged to avoid the disgraceful path most former President's especially J. A. Kufuor chose to the extent that under his reign not only were his relatives placed in very juicy and high-profile appointments, the Asanteman council become an extension of his government. I am not sure the people of Upper West are in any hurry to forgive him for patently overlooking them in the formation of his cabinet purely on the laughable basis that he could not find any suitable person from the region to join his cabinet.

But his warped position does not surprise those who know that former President Kufours, for his hatred for the north was so blatant that he almost always found time to be at child-naming ceremonies in Ashanti but could never find time to visit the north even on weighty national matters such as the killing of the Ya-Naa or the outbreak of the Bawku crisis all of which it is believed were orchestrated by his government a situation that affected NPP in the 2008 and 2012 Elections".

On the other hand if Mahama Haruna thinks he is doing a service to the Gonja people, he is wrong. By the way the President was a Gonja and still is, and was a member of government over quite some time so it is wrong to say that no Gonja has been appointed a cabinet Minister, a Minister or a Deputy Minister.

Of course if any individuals from any ethnic group have the right credentials and the President or his appointments team present them to him, I am sure they will be considered. But I am personally averse to this silly notion that just because my "brother is on the mango tree I must enjoy the choicest fruits". The fact that Kufour's government was so blatantly 'ethnoclastic' favouring Asantes in its appointments does not make it right, nor does it mean that President Mahama should do the same. I rather admire a President who focuses on choosing a winning team than appointments just to satisfy people.

By Abudulai Jakpa.