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I will not accept any deputy ministerial position -Spio-Gabrah
Audrey Micah, Ghanadot

Accra, Feb 4, Ghanadot - Dr. Ekow Spio-Gabrah, with strong standing in the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), is discontented with President Mills for marginalising him in the ministerial nomination exercise recently completed.

The articulate NDC guru also served notice that he will not accept any deputy ministerial appointment, having served as a substantive minister in many capacities in the previous NDC government.

According to him, as a Christian if the president, in consultation with God thinks that he has no role to play in the government, he will accept it as God’s plan for him, adding that members of the NDC who are dissatisfied with his exclusion from the government may be justified.

Prof Mills only last week completed his nominations for ministerial positions, but that list did not include the names of Spio-Garbrah and several others, fuelling speculations that the former Communications Minister and the others had been dumped.

The one-time presidential aspirant of the NDC, speaking on Joy FM this  Wednesday, ruled out resigning from the NDC, if it should turn out that he was deliberately disregarded and sidelined by President Mills.  However, Dr. Spio-Gabrah hinted clearly that he might be inactive during the current administration.

Dr. Spio-Gabrah maintained that if at the end the day he was not given anything, “I will still be an NDC member I hope, but we should not take too much risk and unwittingly put a wedge between certain members of the NDC and others because if some people begin to feel that some NDC members are second class citizens in their own party or in spite of all their efforts they are consciously and deliberately being marginalised, then we can assume that the NDC cannot expect those people to be active members of the party.”

Dr. Spio-Gabrah reminded the party that it won by only 40,000 votes, emphasizing that he possibly contributed more than that number of votes to propel the party to victory in the December 2008 elections.

The one-time presidential aspirant of the NDC urged other disgruntled members of the party to keep their fingers crossed as there were still many appointments to be made.

“I try to make my mind work a little better than my heart in matters of this nature and the part where my mind works is that Ghana needs all its able and talented people to move the agenda of development forward so whether a person is resident in Australia or in London or Bunkrugu if that person is… perceived as somebody who can contribute to the nation’s development then all efforts must be made to get that person involved.”

He rejected suggestions that he was offered an appointment which he didn’t like so he declined the offer and moved to London.

“It could be said that I did not lobby for a post… and so if others went and lobbied for it and my name is not on the list, am not blaming them for it, am not blaming Prof. Mills for it but (what) am saying is that the party rank and file in general is not happy, not just about me but about the overall appointment process”.

Dr. Spio-Gabrah disclosed the appointment process was handled in a manner as to create the impression that those who lobbied hard got appointed while others who deserved to be appointed were ignored. The communications expert said success has many fathers so the NDC’s success had seen many people showing up to claim ownership of the success.

He expressed regret at suggestions that the requirement for him to still remain at his current post for at least three months made it impossible for him to be nominated.

To him the suggestion was laughable and asked whether that requirement was not applicable to the nominee for Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mrs. Betty Mould Iddrisu, who is the Director of Legal and Constitutional Affairs at the Commonwealth Secretariat in the UK.

When asked whether he was in good terms with president Mills, he stated that “well only the president can answer that question with regards to his attitude or feelings towards me but I believe I’m on good terms with him, to the extent that I left my job on many occasions at my own volition without being requested and came to Ghana on many occasions to help him campaign.”

Ghanadot
 

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