10 FEBRUARY 2025: NDC DESTROYS DUE PROCESS, UPENDS PUBLIC SERVICE AND TRAUMATISES FAMILIES – A CLEAR GOVERNANCE FAILURE
History will remember 10 February 2025 not as a day of constructive reform, but as the day when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) turned public service appointments into a political reset button, sabotaging the lives of thousands of Ghanaians and eroding confidence in fair governance.
On 10 February 2025, the Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, issued a sweeping directive to revoke all public service appointments and recruitments made after 7 December 2024, a full 65 days earlier effectively canceling jobs created under the previous administration without a clear legal basis or transparent process.
This directive instructed all heads of government ministries, departments and agencies to immediately annul these appointments and submit compliance reports by 17 February 2025. What followed was nothing short of chaos: men and women who had legitimately earned positions through competitive processes were abruptly dismissed, their careers halted and households plunged into uncertainty.
The impact was devastating. Teachers, nurses, administrative staff, and public workers who had secured employment, often after long waits and investment in training saw their appointments invalidated. This was not limited to political appointees but extended to ordinary civil servants and contract workers whose livelihoods depended on these jobs.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) condemned the mass revocation as “very problematic,” warning that teachers and nurses (essential backbone workers) stood to lose hard-earned employment, potentially undermining service delivery in schools and health facilities across the country.
Even within legal circles, the action sparked constitutional scrutiny. Henry Nana Boakye, NPP National Organiser, filed a lawsuit challenging the directive as unconstitutional, arguing that neither the Chief of Staff nor the President had the authority to arbitrarily revoke appointments without due cause, potentially breaching protections in Article 191(b) of the 1992 Constitution.
Instead of conducting a rational, merit-based review of public sector staffing, the NDC opted for wholesale dismissal, sending shockwaves through families and communities. Each person dismissed was a member of a household, contributing to local economies, supporting children’s education, investing in health needs, and contributing to national productivity.
This approach (hasty, broad, and lacking due process) undermined trust in public institutions and set a dangerous precedent where public service becomes tied to political whims rather than competence and fairness.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) stands firmly for merit, fairness, and due process, believing that public service should operate above partisan politics. Ghana’s progress depends on stable, transparent employment systems that support families and strengthen national capacity and not a governance model where job security is dictated by political resets.
Ghana deserves governance that respects process, protects citizens, and strengthens institutions and not reckless directives that harm livelihoods and erode democracy.
By: Blessing Mantey
