#FixTheCountry convenor, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, has dismissed claims that he served as a presidential staffer in the Mahama administration.
According to him, “Abronye DC [has] on several occasions claimed that I was paid ¢20,000 a month as an advisor to John Mahama.”
In a statement dated February 20, Mr Barker-Vormawor said he has furnished the Police with the list of officers appointed by the former President under the office of the Presidential Act, which was reported to Parliament.
“As the Police will confirm, the list does not contain my name, and there is no record anywhere that presents me as a presidential appointee to who the term presidential staffer properly applies,” he added.
Embattled Bono Regional Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwame Baffoe, aka Abronye DC, is said to have made the allegation in a statement to the Police.
Mr Baffoe has been charged with the publication of false news slapped on him last week.
But the Cambridge PhD student, currently in police custody, noted that he worked as a civil servant at the Foreign Affairs Ministry but was never appointed as presidential staffer.
He noted that in April 2013, he was seconded by the Foreign Affairs Ministry to serve as a liaison officer.
However, “consistent with the practice of the Civil Service, I remained at all times a staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In this role, I discharged my duties to the institution of the Civil Service and was subject at all times to the direction of the Civil Service, even at the Presidency.
“Also, I was at all times on my civil service pay, earning between ¢800 to ¢1000 net monthly.”
The convenor explained why he decided not to react to the claims of Abronye DC all this while.
“I have ignored all these allegations for the same reason one does not interrogate why a fly is drawn to excrement. A person who lives in the gutters craves companionship, and I have little appetite for the gutter politics the 4th Republic has normalised.”
Meanwhile, Mr Barker-Vormavor is hopeful the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will take steps to clarify his status as a foreign service officer during the period of his secondment to the office of the President.
