Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng
Mr. Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo, the Regional Minister for Greater Accra is a very lucky man. In most countries, especially democracies, he would no longer be a minister by the time you read this opinion. He would be a sacked minister, or at best one who wisely fell on his sword before the President did the deed. The reason is simple: in a democracy, or indeed, in any state, you cannot criticise government policy publicly while being a member of the government. If a minister feels unable to support a government policy that minister ought to offer his or her resignation to the President and then criticise to his or her heart?s content. On the other hand, if the minister does not resign but goes ahead to criticize government policy then the President should have no option but to dismiss that minister.
Last Saturday?s Daily Graphic reported that the Greater Accra Minister had questioned the wisdom of the law banning the use of motor cycles to carry passengers in Ghana. Motorcycle taxis are known as Okada, a name borrowed from Nigeria where they have operated for decades now. Incidentally, the name OKADA was borrowed ironically from Okada Air, a now defunct local airline in Nigeria which was known for its functional lack of comfort but would get you there somehow! We will get to the substance of Okada proper, but for now, we need to discuss why what the Minister said should lead to his removal from the government.
Two weeks ago, it was announced that a new law had banned the use of Okadas in Ghana. Given the way laws are made in Ghana, it means that this new law must have been ratified by the Cabinet even before Parliament formally approved it. Mr. Afotey-Agbo is a Member of Parliament, and if he was paying attention in Parliament, had ample opportunity to state his views on the issue as it went through the various stages in the House. Without the benefit of the Hansard and other Parliamentary records I cannot tell whether the Greater Accra Minister spoke on the subject in Parliament, but whether he did or not, the bill has cleared Parliament and become a law introduced by the government of President John Evans Atta Mills of which he is a member.
At this point Mr. Afotey-Agbo had the following choices: go along with it, resign and oppose it, oppose it and be sacked. He has chosen the last option by granting an interview to the Daily Graphic and dissenting from the government because without the NDC whip the law could not have been passed in Parliament. Even worse, in disagreeing with the ban the Minister sends a stinging rebuke to the government in which he serves; according to the report, the Minister said ?the nation had failed to provide jobs for its youth and as a result they had to find their own means of survival, a situation which had led them to engage in commercial activities with motorbikes?. Mr. Afotey-Agbo probably felt that saying the ?nation? instead of the ?government? absolves him from criticising his own government.
This is not an NDC-NPP issue; it is one that goes to the core of democracy and governance because without a sense of responsibility and discipline no party can be effective, especially when in government but equally important in opposition. Ministers are appointed to represent the government in their various spaces and locations and they have access to all levers of power and influence on any subject, including job creation and public safety, the issues at stake here. They cannot disagree with their mandate and still remain at post. Our system cannot tolerate power without responsibility.
Now, let us deal with the substance of the matter. Mr. Afotey-Agbo does not like the ban on Okada for the following reasons: it creates jobs for young men; he disputes the notion that Okadas are dangerous, asking: ?how many Okadas have been involved in accidents on the highways? Mr. Afotey-Agbo called for the education of Okada operators in safety procedures and also for their operations to be regularised. Perhaps the Minister is so busy looking after the Greater Accra Region that he does not go out much or when he does he is whizzed through traffic while smoked windows obscure his view. The truth is that Okadas do get into accidents all the time, but as is the tradition in this country, most of such accidents go unreported. His question about Okada accidents on highways is just a smokescreen because Okadas do not operate on highways.
Even Mr. Afotey-Agbo would have to admit that Okada is not a solution to unemployment nor is it the answer to lack of decent transport in our cities and towns. It is an improvisation designed to solve a problem in the short term but if it poses a danger then it cannot be allowed to continue. The argument that unemployed youth should be allowed to continue in any activity even when it is illegal can be applied to illegal felling of trees, galamsay, drug peddling, or robbery. I am not suggesting that Okada operators are robbers, but that once the activity has been declared illegal no one can engage in it unless the law is overturned either in Parliament or by the Supreme Court.
Mr. Afotey-Agbo may be a Minister but that does not mean he knows better than those whose work is to study road safety issues. They in their knowledge and wisdom believe that whatever advantages Okada may provide its harm outweighs its gains and therefore shepherded a bill through Parliament which is now a law. Mr. Afotey-Agbo could have helped shape the law in its various stages. He cannot now use his ministerial office to undermine the work of his other colleague ministers in other departments who must have sponsored or supported the law.
There is an issue of politics here. President Obama famously said when he was in Ghana that we must build strong institutions not strongmen. Here is a case of a man thinking he ought to be stronger than the institutions of state. Mr. Afotey-Agbo may have become the toast of the Okada community; indeed he has a strongman image in the media which he probably courts but he has diminished the authority of his other colleagues and our President by his utterances. If the President sacks him there will be internal political ramifications but if he does not sack him he looks weak as a party leader. Which way does the President go? Mr. Afotey-Agbo?s luck may be holding but he has created a dilemma for the President.
Source: Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng
