Former Deputy Minister of Transport, Mrs Joyce Bawa Mogtari has said she is more than qualified to have been a substantial minister in the erstwhile administration of Mr John Mahama, to whom she has familial ties.
In the lawyer’s view, her appointment by President John Mahama at the time cannot be described as nepotism contrary to what the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has been saying.
“My father was a very distinguished member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), a party he served for many years. I was a member of the party myself. I had actually taken up responsibilities in my own constituency at the branch level where my uncle actually, was one of the oldest members of the party”, she said on Class FM Thursday.
According to her, “I actually never thought about it [family-and-friends issue] until it came up for public discussion”. “And I’ve asked people: Am I not well-qualified, am I not competent, am I not deserving of the office?”
“I would be remiss”, she said, “and any other person would be under a certain deceptive view if they thought for any reason that the only reason why President Mahama thought it wise at the time to appoint me to the position of Deputy Transport Minister was just because I was his relative”.
“It would be very unfortunate”, she noted, adding: “But when you come to speaking about the current government, I think there’s a good reason why the English language has the word nepotism”.
She said unlike her appointment by Mr Mahama, “There’s a point where it’s way beyond reasonable, where it defies logic”.
“So”, she explained, “If, for example, a President comes into office and there are various party members, members of parliament, all categories of them and it just happens that maybe two or three happen to be his relative or maybe close friends or classmates who are well-deserving, I’m sure you and I will probably overlook it, but when you have an opposition party that took advantage of a young person who had hitherto been a member of the political party whose relative happens to have become a president – note that under Prof Mills, I was actually serving as a board member of the National Lotteries Authority – and, so, it was not as if I hadn’t served in any capacity in terms of my politics”.
Further contrasting the two situations, she said: “Now, we have a government in power that has well over 60 individuals – husbands and wives, brothers and ... – look, the President and the Finance Minister are first cousins from the same family. That I think is taking it too far”.
“If you have even 20 persons that we can name as being largely very close to a leader at any given time, I think that is one too many and I think in every class of conflict, there is a certain level of something that is reasonable and something that is not. In law, for example, we have: ‘To a large extent’, or ‘to a reasonable extent’ or ‘what is acceptable’ or ‘what is accepting’.
“Note that if President Mahama wanted to appoint only his family members, he’d probably have a lot more than 50; in his own family there’s about 19 of them. I can bet you they are all qualified for any position”, she asserted.
“In any case”, she stressed, “I believe and I still do that I was well-qualified even to be a full minister. I suspect, sometimes – I may be wrong – that possibly, because I was a relative to him [Mr Mahama] and he worried about this sort of impression that had been created, it is probably the reason why [he made me a deputy]”.
She said: “President Mahama knows I’ll survive anywhere. … I’m smart, I’m hardworking, I know what I’m about. I believe that he doesn’t think that if Joyce were not my Deputy Minister, she won’t survive anywhere else and I’m sure people who have encountered me look beyond that quota about family-and-friends but when you have a government that is practising nepotism, that is totally different from where, accidentally, my niece or my relative happens to be a member of the party … so, naturally, there would be a certain extent that you would have [relatives].
“I’m not President Mahama’s daughter, I’m not his immediate son … and I’m already a member of the party anyway, so, naturally, of course, if I became a member of parliament today and we need women in Parliament, we need great examples of females who are able to set great examples for young females like yourself [host] and President Mahama felt, OK: let me make Joyce an ambassador for women, will that be wrong because I’m his relative? But if he took 20 of us from his family and gave us all these portfolios, then certainly there’s a problem”, she added.
Source: classfmonline.com
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The finance minister should tell us how much he will steel to sponsor Nana Addo's campaign. Santamanza!!
No one knows what these guys will do with our money when it comes to elections campaign spending. No one knows how far they will go.
How can the president and the finance minister come from the same family? That is recipe for disaster. Can the president jail his own cousin for steeling tax payers money?
How much of Ghana's money has the finance minister sent into his offshore account? And they have idiotss supporting them. Shine your eyes!
@Kaksi Kafui Djobo. Who are honest the Akyem mafias? The Auditor General is chasing Osafo Marfo to come and account the dibious moneys he collected in the name of hiring international auditors to retrieve properties wrongly acquired by NDC appointees. Has he been able to do that instead the thevies are using EOCO to sack the AG so these mafias can continue to steal. God is watching. It is a bad precedent and I hope when the table turns NPP will not complain
@Apeagye. Just listen to yourself and the Sri Lanka example and what joyce is saying. There is what we call reasonability. You Sri Lanka example has only 2 of his family members in his government and not 50+ like Akufo ADDO government. Ghana does not practice a monarchy system where you pack your government with family members. The framers othef constitution knew of nepotism that is why they called for regional balance of distribution. I am very sure you occupied a family position in this government that is why you have clouded your reasonability. Your next argument will be whether they are qualified or not, it is neither here nor there. Are they the only people who are qualified in NPP? Unless you want us to know that NPP is full of people like chairman wontumi and Abronye. But remember no matter what Akufo ADDO will be in power maximum 8 years, we will see how you will feel if the next government fills positions with most family members whether they are qualified or not.
Sri Lanka just had an election and the president has appointed his senior brother as prime minister and finance minister,and a junior brother as trade minister. We are the only ones who find something wrong with appointing a relative to a position a crime.
Madam Joyce this comparison is dead on arrival.. Even Mahama himself in terms of pedigree cannot compare himself to Ken Ofori Ata.. We are talking about somebody who has a huge pedigree in the banking sector way before he became a minister..Ken has a very successful business.. Mahama cannot even compare his private life CV to Ken's own..Who was Mahama before he came into politics..He didnt even have a kiosk to even employ somebody before he came into politics.. Am very sure if Ken was his cousin he would have even step down as president for Ken to continue for him.. Joyce I beg even u can't even compare your self to Nana Asante Bediatu or Gabby or better still Ata Akyia...Am sure Mahama will be kissing heaven if he had learned people in his family.. He wanted to sell a whole Bauxite to his family.. Today everybody can see that this bauxite will benefit the whole country because every region in Ghana will benefit road construction becos of Synohydro and a factory which will create jobs for thousands..Nana is a selfless leader
thats what happens when all your family members are well educated. NDC help your people wai and stop the 'only me and my nuclues family' thing you are too selfish. learn to help people not only your children deserve everything. talking from experience ooo. NPP people even when you are not related to them, they still help you once they get the opportunity. Ah
Well said Joyce Bawa. You're more than qualified and you are not corrupt. Why should one family think that they are the only qualified people to rule? And members of the NPP are quiet because they are afraid.