Socrates Sarfo Has Family; Why The Heck Are You Not Paying His Salary? - Kwasi Ernest Fumes

Chief Executive Officer of Media Excel, Kwasi Ernest has empathized with film producer, Socrates Sarfo following his public outburst over some uncouth treatment he has been subjected to in the Creative Arts Ministry.

Socrates Sarfo, in an interview with Halifax Ansah Addo on Okay FM's 'Best Entertainment', poured out his outrage claiming he has been sitting on the sidelines since appointed as Director of Creative Arts and subsequently Chairman of Classification (movies) at the Creative Arts.

He complained bitterly about how no one in his outfit shares relevant information about the Creative Arts, particularly development projects, with him.

He resented the behaviour of his colleague workers keeping him in the dark and frustrating his work and life with their incessant lack of communication.

"If somebody is listening, they should tell the President that some of us are getting tired . . . The frustration is too much. We've been quiet for far too long and it looks some people feels being quiet means you're stupid. No! Being quiet is giving people time to reform. We've voted for a party. The President is doing whatever he can do but there are people who don't understand why they're even in office. There are people who don't understand and value whatever they have been assigned to do. Somebody should tell the President; something is wrong.

" . . We can't come and sit here on an empty stomach for four years. We finish and we go and beg friends for food and at the end of the day, people sit in certain places and they want to be carried in palanquins and hail their praises. For what!," Socrates Sarfo blurted out.

Speaking on 'Entertainment Review' on Peace FM, Kwasi Ernest also bemoaned the unfair treatment to Socrates Sarfo, stressing the latter has been working hard and sacrificing himself for the Akufo-Addo administration but he is under-appreciated.

Kwasi Ernest revealed that Socrates is almost at the verge of destitution because he hasn't been paid his monthly salary since the governing New Patriotic Party came into power.

He wondered how they expect Socrates Sarfo to continue working when all he gets is sheer ingratitude and blatant disregard for his position and role in the Creative Arts.

He called on noble persons within the Creative Arts industry who have clout to present the cases of Socrates and other colleagues facing the same situaton before President Nana Akufo-Addo and intervene for them to receive better treatment and reward for their hard work and selflessness for the ruling party.

''Whoever gave Socrates Sarfo job and did not add salary to it should know that the man has a family. He has a wife and children. The children will have to go to school and be fed. So, for four years, you put this man in an office without salary. I mean how do you feel? How do you feel? That you ride in a V8 vehicle and going up and down, receiving allowance...

''It's not Socrates Sarfo alone. There are several of these people working in the Creative Arts; I'm not sure Franky Five and Mark Okraku Mantey and so forth are remunerated. They're just working for free. How? In the name of what? In the name of as their Roman fathers or their Archbishops or their what, their potters? Why?'', he berated the government.

Akufo-Addo Must Listen

Kwasi Ernest called on President Akufo-Addo not to ignore Socrates Sarfo's ordeal but immediately come to his aid.

"For me, it's very much unfortunate. The President should listen to what is happening. Nobody should take some of us working in the Creative Arts for granted. All of us, we're suffering. It has taken Socrates Sarfo as a bold person to be able to come out like this and speak and rant his frustration for somebody to hear. Either than that, I'm telling you, there are a lot of people suffering . . . They're working for government day and night, and they're receiving nothing," he told host Akwasi Aboagye.

Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana