It has emerged that two senior National Democratic Congress (NDC) members had described President John Evans Atta Mills as surrounding himself with mediocre advisors.
According to Wikileaks, the notorious whistle blower website, Johnson Asiedu Nketia aka General Mosquito, NDC General Secretary, and Alban Bagbin, Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, had told United States Embassy officials that �Mills has surrounded himself with inexperienced advisors who are providing poor counsel�, confirming the assertion of Jerry John Rawlings, former President and NDC founder that Prof Mills�s appointees were mediocre.
The NDC gurus went on to tell the US Ambassador, Donald Teitelbaum, on December 10 and 11, 2009 that the mediocre advisors were �failing to ensure inter-ministerial coordination�.
So far, names like Hannah Tetteh, Minister of Trade and Industry; Baba Jamal, a deputy Minister of Information; Fiifi Kwetey, a deputy Minister of Finance, and others have popped up as having made statements to diplomats probably for political expediency.
The rest are Akrasi Sarpong, the Executive Secretary of Narcotics Control Board; Ben Ephson, a self-acclaimed pollster and Editor of Daily Dispatch; Kwesi Pratt, Managing Editor of Insight, with the latest batch of loose-talkers being Asiedu Nketia, Bagbin, and Mahama Ayariga.
After meeting President Mills on December 9, 2009 in a crucial meeting at the Castle, the cables said, �both Nketia and Bagbin said that the NDC�s success in the next election will be based on its performance in government, and that the party must overcome its current divisions if it wishes to remain in power�.
Alban Bagbin
�Bagbin said participants voiced concern that Mills has surrounded himself with young and inexperienced advisors who are not providing good counsel. Bagbin was particularly critical of the President�s communication team, singling out Spokesman Mahama Ayariga and the Information Minister (Zita Okaikoi) as ineffective (reftel).�
�Bagbin noted that as Majority leader (as he then was) he is responsible for carrying out the government�s agenda in Parliament, but said that there has been poor coordination between the government and Parliament.�Bagbin also cited poor coordination between different ministries, and said the exclusion of the Information Minister from the Cabinet has aggravated the government�s inability to present a coherent message.�
Johnson Asiedu-Nketia
The cable said: �NDC General Secretary Nketia, who sits in the Mills Cabinet, told POL Chief that he felt the Mills meeting was successful. He also said Mills� communication team was failing, and noted that this contrasted with the successful communication operation that the NDC ran in opposition and during the 2008 presidential campaign.
�Nketia was particularly critical of the President�s Chief of Staff and two Deputy Chiefs of Staff. He said he had been surprised by Mills� hiring decisions for these positions, and said that none of the individuals in those positions had adequate political experience.
�Nketia cited former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings� decision to run for a party vice chairman position (in the run up to the NDC congress in Tamale to elect executives) as a challenging development that could prove either problematic or positive for the party as it looks toward the 2012 election.
�Both Nketia and Bagbin said that the NDC�s success in the next election will be based on its performance in government, and that the party must overcome its current divisions if it wishes to remain in power.�
�Nketia acknowledged divisions within the party, and said that the party would have little chance to retain power in 2012 if it cannot overcome this problem�Nketia conceded that the Administration has had governance problems of its own creation, but said that another significant problem was managing the expectations that were raised during the campaign, particularly given the difficult fiscal and economic situation,� the cable said.
�Nketia said that the NDC is struggling to define itself as a party independent of personalities, and that they must find a way to manage the political force of Rawlings without making him irrelevant. Nketia said that for many years the NDC has revolved around the personality of its founder, and that this has created lingering questions of loyalty for many party leaders who served under Rawlings but now identify with the current president�.
Mahama Ayariga
Mahama Ayariga, spokesperson at the inception of the Mills administration before he was moved to the Ministry of Trade and Industry and now Education, as deputy minister, conceded that the Mills government had been vulnerable to criticism as it had not done a great job explaining itself to the Ghanaian public.
�This has allowed critics � including some within the NDC such as former President Rawlings � to take the initiative in criticizing the pace of the Mills Administration,� the cable said.
�Ayariga admitted that personality problems between members of the President�s communications team have adversely affected coordination. Ayariga specifically noted strained relations between himself and Director of Presidential Communications Koku Anyidoho, and Information Minister Zita Okaikoi.�
Source: William Yaw Owusu
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