- He called for the term of office of the President to be raised from four to five years, claiming that the additional year could be used to complete what might have been initiated in the first four years. He had eight years in all.
- He suggested a six-year tenure of office for the Electoral Commissioner (and other members?) so that they could be better prepared to handle affairs in a more democratic manner.
- He raised public sector workers’ salaries by as much as between 16 and 32% even though the document on the issue had been lying on his desk three months hitherto.
- He unconditionally pardoned and unreservedly freed from any legal or constitutional encumbrance 500 prisoners and NDC officials who had been tried by the Fast Track Court and imprisoned for causing financial loss to the state.
- He stopped the ongoing trial of Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings and the others for their alleged involvement in the divestiture of the Nsawam Cannery to Carridem, owned by the 31st December Women’s Movement, which is headed by the former First Lady. Unlike the other decisions, this particular one was not announced until 1/13/09 when JoyFm Online broke it.
- The Salary Increase I am bent on raising this issue because this decision has dire consequences for the Prof. Mills-led young NDC government, especially in terms of its relationship with workers. The battle lines are drawn already. Salary increase for the public sector workers has been an age-old bone of contention between governments and workers. What Kufuor announced is weird because it was not the collective decision through any negotiation by the partners in the Tripartite Committee nor did anybody expect salaries to be raised in January when the incumbent was just about leaving office. The problem, however, is that once the announcement came from the President, it would be a source of relief for workers; and they would not accept anything to the contrary. And who will begrudge them? After all, having lived under the impression that the NPP government would solve their problems as was often declared publicly by its leaders, why should Kufuor’s “magnanimity” not be welcomed? More importantly, why should his decision on the salary increase be overturned by the new government? Such a government must have nerves! Certainly, any decision by the Mills government not to implement the new salary scale will leave a sour taste in the mouths of the expectant beneficiaries. Immediately, the government would be on a collision course with workers. There will be only one outcome: the creation of an unhealthy relationship between labour and government even before the NDC administration gets some breathing space to start serious government business. Agitations may erupt soon, especially if political opponents of the NDC in the labour force take up the issue to play workers against the government. The government’s hands have already been tied behind its back by this decision. The industrial waters stand to be muddied and the Mills government will find it difficult to extricate itself from this dicey situation unless intense measures are immediately put in place to reach out to the workers. Anything short of that diplomatic approach will ensure a long session of intense head-butting. At this point, workers’ confidence in President Mills will begin to evaporate because they will surely see him as incapable of implementing a “good decision” that his predecessor had made for their benefit. In consequence, workers will find it hard to collaborate with the government. Eventually, the future seems bleak for the NDC government in the face of this threatening issue. Is this what Kufuor wishes to happen? Something, however, appears to be emerging that Kufuor’s decision will not be implemented soon. According to news reports (Ghanaian Times, reported by JoyFm Online), the Controller and Accountant-General, Christian T. Sottie, had directed that salaries of public and civil servants should be paid at the “current approved levels,” not the one announced by Kufuor. Hints that the NDC government would still be expected to brace itself up for the fallouts are clear in Mr. Sottie’s message. He was quoted as saying that “such payments would continue till a directive from the government instructs otherwise.” And there is some faint relief for government in his explanation: “effecting salary increase of workers has a pattern to follow and is not by mere pronouncement.” Did Kufuor not know this fact before unilaterally raising the salaries? What could be his motivation for doing so? The problem is: Will the NDC government decide to retain the salary increase at all; or will it suspend it and call for fresh negotiations between the various partners in the Tripartite Committee before doing anything about salary increment? Will the government reduce the salary scale instead, given the state of the country’s economy? I foresee a herculean task in this case, all because of Kufuor’s calculated move to shackle the NDC government. The conclusion is clear that in both entering and leaving Office, the NPP under Kufuor was determined not to give the NDC any breathing space at all. Is this insidiousness good for our democracy? A cycle of “do-me-I-do-you” has already been set in motion. My heart aches.
- Unconditional Pardon of Convicts
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