Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Sekondi
THE Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr Stephen Asamoah-Boateng, has urged the staff of the Information Services Department to ensure that government policies and national issues are propagated devoid of partisan politics.
He said as fellow compatriots, they were at liberty to engage in politics, which is their right.
“But it is dangerous if your work is clouded in party politics. You do your work as employees of the state and we the politicians will handle the political aspects at our levels,” he stressed.
Addressing officials of the department and some District, Municipal and Metropolitan Chief Executives (MMCEs) in Sekondi, the minister reminded them that they were first and foremost employees of the state and not the government.
He explained that governments were in transition and that the state was established and permanent and came before government.
Mr Asamoah-Boateng said the introduction of partisanship politics into workplaces would negatively affect important national issues that needed to go down well with the people, since the policies would be politicised, and would, therefore, not meet their intended purpose.
“It is, therefore, very important that you sell the good policies of whatever government in power to the people to ensure that the people are abreast of government policies and at the same time become the channel through which the government and other development agents could gather feedback to improve their performances,” he said.
“Politics is part of your work, you have to play it cautiously to ensure that good government polices are not coloured in a partisan manner,” the minister stressed.
Mr Asamoah-Boateng said his ministry was doing everything possible to ensure that the necessary working tools were made available to ensure that they did not encounter any difficulties in the discharge of their duties, adding, “the problems of fuel, maintenance and other logistics should not be your problem”.
He urged the MMDCEs to work closely with the information officers to ensure that the set targets were achieved.
The minister later interacted with the media practitioners and urged them to be circumspect in their reportage to ensure that undue tension was not created in the countryside.
“I am not to tell you what to do but your position as the forth estate can change the country for the better,” he emphasised.
The Western Regional Minister, Mr A. E. Amoah, also reminded them that communication was a two-way system, so as they reach out to the people, they should ensure that they came back with feedback.
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