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A former member of the Council of State, Otumfuo Baidoo Bonsoe XV, has taken a swipe at politicians and persons who engage in scrambling for top positions at various public institutions when there is a new government. He said the current order of intense lobbying coupled with nepotism and ethnic considerations in the appointment of public office holders was a cancer which could destroy the trust in national integration. �This is very worrying, especially when competence and experience people are sacrificed on the considerations of political and ethnic affiliations. People are always clamouring to associate themselves with top public officials either ethnically or politically to gain favours,� Otumfuo Baidoo Bonsoe XV who is also the paramount chief of the Ahanta Traditional Area in the Western Region stated in an interview with The New Crusading GUIDE on Monday. He said that ethnic consideration for appointing persons into higher public positions was not peculiar to one political regime, but has been consistent since the inception of the Fourth Republic. �There have been situations where past Presidents have been accused of having majority of their appointments come from their ethnic group or region; these are not mere allegations or speculations, I believe there are some truth,� he pointed out. He recalled a similar situation where the Western Regional House of Chiefs had to express their dissatisfaction over appointments into public offices which they objected as favouring only one particular ethnic group, adding that the growing culture is being patronise by politicians, traditional leaders and other individuals for their self-seeking interest. Otumfuo Baidoo Bonsoe XV further stated that, �During Mills� administration for instance, he was determined to give jobs to only competent hands, but there was an intense pressure on him to give priority public positions to certain ethnic groups and persons from only the NDC fraternity. Although he tried to reject these pressures, he had to give way to some of these considerations.� The former Council of State member urged political leaders to correct the phenomenon to promote national unity and integration, while advising President John Mahama to ensure that, his all-inclusive government policy must be done on the basis of selecting competent people for the right positions. He also urged managers at the various public institutions to be committed and eschew partisanship in the execution of their responsibilities in order to move the nation forward.