Party spokespersons of the Ashanti Regional communication bureau of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have embarked on an indefinite strike, starting Monday the 24th of May.
In a statement announcing the decision, the strikers said they feel neglected and underappreciated by their party, hence the decision.
“With a very heavy heart, we wish to OFFICIALLY indicate to the public, government and the New Patriotic Party that starting from Monday, 24th May 2021, the Radio and TV Communicators for the ruling New Patriotic Party in the Ashanti Region are on strike. This decision has been necessitated by the unfair and unbalanced treatment that the leadership of the party and government have melted to us over the period,” the angry party loyalists stated.
The statement is signed by Sir Kwame Agenda, Alhaji Abdul Wahab, and one Prince Hafiz. It is not clear what their positions are in the regional communications team.
According to the statement, before the declaration of strike, the decision had been first communicated to the regional leadership of the party, but nobody took them seriously.
“These issues have been raised since 2017. To our dismay, some regional officers rather sought to trivialize our concerns by denying the strike entirely. That was very disrespectful to our concerns especially when all regional officers are aware of the difficulties Regional Communicators have had to deal with from 2016 through to the 2020 elections. Our work on radio and TV during the Pandemic period accounted greatly for the 1.79 million votes from the Ashanti Region,” they complained.
According to them, in February 2017, NPP Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, alias Wontumi, told them point-blank that he could not help them, and rather asked them to join him to help with the Planting for Food and Jobs program. However, now that another election season has come around, the same Wontumi has suddenly come round with others to rally them for votes.
“True to his word, he didn’t meet us until April 2021 when he sees that another regional primaries is knocking on his door. Suddenly, regional officers who are noted to be Accra-based radio and TV panelists are moving from one station to another in Kumasi. That is good. We will urge them to stay in the region and do more,” they said.
“As if that was not enough, the Director of Communication for the Region also indicated that if the Team ‘A’ is not available, he will gladly use the Team ‘B’. His comment was clearly indicative of his insensitivity and disregard for the plight of the Communicators. Let it not be lost that he is also privy to all the concerns of communicators but has done nothing to address them.”
They accuse the party of neglect and complain of lack of jobs for their members.
They also say their plights never reach up to the level of the President and the Vice President and are therefore praying to meet them and officially present their concerns.