• He claims that Prof Attafuah got his position was as a result of being an NPP

• He advised Ken Attafuah to use political neutrality to campaign for the party in 2024

Kennedy Ohene Agyapong has charged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to immediately relieve Professor Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah as the Executive Secretary at the National Identification Authority (NIA) else he will incite all unemployed NPP youth to demonstrate against him.

According to him, nobody is going to use “political neutrality” to campaign for the party in 2024 for the party to win an election for him [Ken Attafuah] to get a job under an NPP government.

Prof Attafuah had earlier in an interview with Accra-based Angel FM stated that President Nana Akufo-Addo when he was being appointed charged him to build a national identification system that is politically neutral.

He said he was focused on his mandate and would not be swayed by his detractors including party supporters.

Prof Attafuah insisted that he will ensure to go by the President’s directive of not hiring any NPP executive(s) at the NIA.

He noted that President Akufo-Addo’s vision is for him to build a neutral public service and so he [Attafuah] was doing what the law permits and in line with the President’s legacy.

But speaking on Asempa FM, Tuesday, June 8, monitored by GhanaWeb, the Assin Central MP stated, “I have a very big problem with what Professor Ken Attafuah has said in relation to this and finding jobs for the youth.”

“First of all, even if what he is saying is exactly what President Akufo-Addo charged him to do in a private conversation, do you think the Professor should come publicly to say this is what the President has charged him to do?”

I want to ask Ken Attafuah, is his position as head of the NIA “politically neutral”?

“I have the common sense to ask simple, simple questions for him [Attafuah] to look so ridiculous.”

Agyapong is of the view that Prof Attafuah’s stance has the potential to demoralise the youth in the NPP, many of whom are looking for job opportunities and are of the conviction that after helping the party to obtain political power, they ought to be sorted out with job opportunities.

He argues that Prof Attafuah started the work at NIA during President John Kufuor’s era from 2001 to January 2009 but when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration came into office in 2009, he [Attafuah] was removed.

He said he was reinstated by the NPP in 2017 when the party regained power so where is the “political neutrality” that he is talking about.

He indicated that the youth of the NPP are angry over Prof Attafuah’s political neutrality comments which seek to suggest that President Akufo-Addo does not want them to be offered job opportunities.

“Political neutrality, 2024 Prof Attafuah go and use political neutrality and campaign with them…I’ll incite every unemployed NPP member against this man. Demonstration all over the country, if President Akufo-Addo does not sack him from the NIA. We cannot be working in vain for the party like that,” Kennedy Agyapong stressed.

He noted that, if indeed President Akufo-Addo really communicated that to the Professor, then it means that the President is telling us if we are campaigning for the party and we die, we die in vain.

“I know that man [President Akufo-Addo] will never say that” because he wants to place Ghana on a sound footing as well as ensure the well-being of NPP members.

Agyapong hinted that he was aware someone else was to have gotten the job at NIA but it surprisingly went to Prof Attafuah only for him to turn against NPP members.

He stressed, he has no problem if Prof Attafuah employs NDC members at NIA because they are all Ghanaians but he was of the conviction that party members who have contributed to the attainment of political power should be offered opportunities and that is how politics is done.

He demanded the resignation of Prof Attafuah over his “political neutrality” comment, which he said has the potential to “destroy” the party.

Agyapong warned that NPP members will henceforth be thinking about themselves and not the party.