‘Appointing A Civil Servant Secretary To Government Shows That The Okorocha Government Is Naïve And Confused’
The former Principal Secretary to the Imo State Governor Ichie Fide Nwaogu has condemned the appointment of a civil servant as Secretary to the Imo State Government (SGI) stating that the appointment shows that the Okorocha administration is confused about the work of SGI in a democratic regime.
The information guru cum legal practitioner said this in a recent statement to the press in Owerri.
The Umuowa-Orlu born technocrat who started his career with the Imo State Civil Service in 1979 stated that the Office of the SGI is the political hob of the government.
‘The Rescue Mission is a political manifesto and should be driven by a politician cum party man. Therefore, the SGI should be one who must have followed the governor to political campaigns. He must be at home with the promises made during political campaigns and the party manifestoes.
The SGI also co-ordinates political appointments and functions of political appointees and makes sure that the policies of the government relate to the manifestoes of the party in power…’.
Continuing, the former Government Printer who served as Principal Secretary to the Imo State Governor for five years however said that it was false and misleading to say that the Mbakwe Administration had a public servant as SGI.
‘Before his appointment as Mbakwe’s SGI, Prof Enoch Anyanwu was a lecturer in University of Nsukka but pulled out and joined Chief Samuel Mbakwe in all his political campaigns. Consequently, he was later made the SGI…’.
On the use of civil servants as SGI, the former Chief Press Secretary to Ex-Imo Governors Sunday Adenihun and Evan Enwerem said that it was only military administrations that used civil servants as SGI in the state. This he said was because politics was banned during military regimes.
Barr. Nwaogu further opined that it was an aberration making a serving permanent secretary Mr. George Eche the present SGI which he said amounted to making a career civil servant a politician while in service.
‘…A civil servant lacks the political training, experience and will to be an SGI. As a civil servant, he will find it difficult to control and coordinate the governor’s political bureau political activities and properly liaise with the governor’s political party and its members. Therefore, that appointment shows that the government is confused….’.
It could be recalled that in a recent statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Imo State Governor Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, among other things, a civil servant as SGI was said to be the best for Governor Rochas Okorocha’s present governmental policies stating that it was the same case during Mbakwe’s regime in the state.
However, this decision has attracted many criticisms especially from stakeholders in the politics of the state.