District chief executives and standard of leadership
Mr Gabriel Barimah is back to post as the District Chief Executive (DCE) of the Ahafo-Ano-South District in the Ashanti Region. And in typical Ghanaian fashion, there are loud applauses welcoming him back to post.
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This was after he was dismissed for a conduct which could at best be described as unruly and out of step with the kind of disposition one would expect from a top government official in the district.
But once again, a convenient excuse has been made for him by the party hierarchy and as already pointed out he is back at post. Then there is the DCE for Twifo Atti Mokwa, Bossman Osei Hyeamn, who was sentenced to 14 days’ imprisonment by the Cape Coast High Court for contempt.
His incarceration was prompted by his authorisation for a demolition of a market at Twifo Praso in spite of the pendency of a stay of execution.
He is reported to have said that he was going to carry on the demolition exercise in spite of the order; and that no one could take him to task.
Guess what happened after his release? In typical Ghanaian fashion he was described as a hero who laid down his life as a sacrificial lamb for the development of the area.
The Central Regional Minister, Mr Aquinas Tawiah Quansah, leading the praise songs stated: “I am proud that the honourable DCE did not go to jail because he misappropriated state funds or engaged in any underhand dealings. He went to jail because of Ghana.”
Then there is the curious case of the Akuapem South DCE, Mr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, who rejected about three acres of land which were recommended by the Department of Parks and Gardens to the Assembly for the construction of its office complex.
He rather prefered the assembly complex in a forest reserve which meant that inevitably essential vegetation cover and trees would be destroyed. One would have thought that a DCE would have known better.
But who is to blame for this sorry state of affairs where some DCEs are in a bubble of their own and oblivious of their importance in the constitutional scheme of things? What kind of standards do these DCEs hold themselves to?
Under the Local Government Act, 1993 (Act 462), district assemblies are clothed with power to exercise political and administrative authority in the district. The assemblies are responsible for the overall development of the district and this normally requires that the assemblies formulate and execute plans, programmes and strategies for the effective mobilisation of the resources for the overall development of the district.
And as the chief representative of the government in the district, does it not stand to reason that a higher standard of conduct and behaviour is required of them? They are the president personified in the various districts. Save for territorial and jurisdictional limitations, the district chief executive can be equated to an ambassador who is equal to the chief representative of the central government in a foreign land. This invariably means that a person appointed as a district chief executive must be held to the standards and conducts expected of the president.
Any standard lower than that expected of the president is unacceptable. I am wondering what our reaction would have been as a nation if Mr Barimah was Ghana’s ambassador to the United Kingdom or the United States of America. Would the president or whoever recommended his reappointment have decided to reappoint him if he behaved the way he did before some Ghanaian community in the diaspora? Would the excuse that an unknown person made a contemptuous remark justifying his unnecessary outburst satisfy the president?
In the case of the DCE jailed for contempt, some are content that he was not jailed for an offence such as misappropriation of funds. But is the president and the local government minister pleased that a man who openly defies a court order and by reasonable implication sought to place an obstacle in the path of the administration of justice competent to be the chief representative of the central government?
The same can be said about the log-felling district chief executive who found it not worthy to contact the relevant agencies before deciding on the siting of an office complex.
And are we surprised the labour unions are putting in place measures to evade and go around the injunction issued requiring them to return to work? Probably in some circles, they may be heroes just as the government through the central regional minister declared the court-defying DCE a hero.