On Tuesday, President John Evans Atta Mills fired a diktat to all government appointees including ministers to give precedence to National Democratic Congress (NDC) members when they come knocking on their doors.

The veiled directive is a suggestion that when party members come knocking, they be given priority over all others.

We would not be surprised when eventually, party cards are demanded before audience is obliged those who come knocking on the doors of ministers’ offices.

In our part of the world where democracy is in a fledgling state, such a diktat is a recipe for political confusion and we dread the repercussion of such a development.

Many Ghanaians could not help but recall the President’s promise to serve as a president for all Ghanaians, irrespective of whether they voted for him or not.

There is no doubt that the promise has turned out to be hot air, evaporating as soon as it was made by the President.

Those who doubted the seriousness of the somewhat pledge by the President are laughing last, having been vindicated by outrageous directive.

We are aware about the enormous pressure on President Mills to serve the interest of his party people first. Bizarre as this is, we expected that he would have managed it with a touch of finesse and not the manner it was laid out Wednesday.

Even though we acknowledge the challenges he is facing, as he tries to contain the revolutionary demands of his minders and mentor in a democratic setting, his sudden capitulation is most appalling.

A President should be his own man and refuse to be driven to take unseemly decisions as the one under review.

The backlash on the airwaves, following the distasteful presidential diktat, was overwhelming and we do hope that Mr. President has had a genuine feedback from his minders.

Partisanship, as the President very well knows, should be limited to the campaign trail and not during the very serious business of governance.

For a President to direct that people from his party should be given unfettered access to government appointees is a very effective way of enhancing corruption in the country.

The country, by this directive, is going to be further polarized and we shudder to think about the effect of this on the political fortunes of the country.

We were not surprised when the Presidential Spokesman, Hon Mahama Ayariga, sought to explain what the presidential directive suggested and to, as it were, rubbish the interpretations to the directive.

Similar attempts were made earlier when distasteful deliveries were made by the presidency, and as usual, the whipping boy has been the media.

What is it about directives from the presidency that make them suffer what for the spokesperson are misinterpretations?

We would have preferred not to think that there is a certain touch of inefficiency on the part of the communications machinery of the presidency.

The easiest way of hiding such inefficiency is to present the media as being mischievous as in the case under review.

On one occasion, a frustrated President Mills was compelled to call a radio station, pleading to be put on air to explain a point. Although he did not get the opportunity, those privy to the issue felt uncomfortable and worried.

A faulty diktat from the Castle is not a thing to be happy about.



Credit: Daily Guide/Ghana