A member of the opposition New Patriotic Party, Abu Jinapor has denied allegations that the NPP instigated the demonstration by the Prison Officers of the Kumasi Central Prison in the Ashanti Region. Some aggrieved Prison Officers at the Kumasi Central Prison in the Ashanti Region on Wednesday, September 15, staged a demonstration against what they described as the woeful and inadequate upward adjustment in their salaries in relative to what their colleagues in the Police Service receive as far as the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure is concerned. The Prison Officers blocked the main gate and all entry points into the prison and also vowed to prevent visitors from visiting their relatives in the State penitentiary. The police had to intervene to calm the rioting prison officers wearing red arm bands, burning car tires and chanting war songs. According to the irate Prison Officers the disparity in their salaries were so low that lower ranked police officers received higher salaries than higher ranked prison officers. The action by the Prison Officers was however condemned by National Security Advisor Brigadier General Nunoo Mensah. He told Citi FM that the demonstration was illegal and a clear case of mutiny. Some members of the ruling National Democratic Congress have also accused the NPP of masterminding the protests by the Prison Officers considering the fact that the demonstration occurred in the stronghold of the opposition party. However speaking on Citi FM’s Saturday Political talk show “the Big Issue”, Abu Jinapor also an aide to the flagbearer of the NPP, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, said what happened in the Ashanti Region was a clear case of failure by the Atta Mills-led government to implement the Single Spine Salary Structure in a way that will ensure parity for all beneficiaries. “Whatever happens in Ghana is obviously put at the door steps of the NPP…everything is blamed on the NPP. I am not surprised because when you have an incompetent government that cannot deliver they will find scape goats and always put at the door steps of those scape goats whatever misfortune befalls the country.” “The then government did a comprehensive job and put together this policy. The policy was supposed to have been rolled out somewhere in January 2009. The NDC came into power in 2009 and begin sacking the commissioners of the Fair Wages Commission and begin the process of revising the Single Spine Structure and this delayed the implementation of the policy for almost two years. Government instead of being diligent and staying focused and implementing the Single Spine Salary in a way that will inure to the benefit of the workers in this country, the government went to town and started propaganda, saying this is their achievement”. Abu Jinapor also blamed the chaos that happened in the Ashanti Region on poor communication and lack of education on the single Spine Salary Structure by the ruling government. “lack of communication, lack of due diligence, lack of efficiency and all that resulted in the Prison Service workers demonstrating and burning tires on the streets of Kumasi” Source: Citifmonline.com/Ghana