Ningo-Prampram MP, Samuel Nartey George, has described the public service as a colonial relic.

The former presidential staffer in the Mahama regime said that explains the partisan culture seeping into government agencies, impeding on their primary functions.

Sharing his opinion on the public service on JoyFM’s Super Morning Show Friday, he explained that the independent approach that government agencies are supposed to encourage cannot be done. 

He was contributing to a discussion on development in the ongoing impeachment trial of US President Donald Trump in which some diplomats testified again the appointing authority.

Asked whether that could be replicated here in Ghana, Sam George said such a phenomenon is near impossible to happen in Ghana.

He explained that this is because authority distribution is top-heavy leaving employees of such agencies without authority to hold colleagues accountable.

According to him, this partisan culture exists because the colonial mentality of working for a powerful head has found its way into how modern-day government agencies operate today.

“There’s so much power vested in politics that if today, the politics tells you, that Kojo, you’re a woman: you are a woman,” he stressed.

“That’s how powerful politicians are in this part of the world. So, an employee reporting a person in political leadership is an impossible thing to come across.

“Giving the structure of our democracy, it’s impossible to have it [an independent culture adopted by agency employees in the workplace],” the Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram said.

“Even look at the structure of the 1992 constitution, even though it seeks to give independence to some institutions if you look at what executive and legislative powers are in that constitution, it negates any independence you’ve given to those institutions,” he added.

He also explains that petty issues like the concept of party loyalty or allegiance hinder the development of individuals who genuinely want to pursue professional careers in diplomacy solely based on meritocracy.