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2024 August 28 - September 3 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Hyogo governor abuses his power, driving prefectural official to suicide

Akahata editorial (excerpts)

It was in March when Hyogo Governor Saito Motohiko was internally accused of power harassment against prefectural officials and of his use of the prefectural government to further his own interests, including alleged kickbacks of prefectural subsidies from financial institutions. An official who blew the whistle was, however, treated unfavorably and he committed suicide early July in protest.

After being accused, Governor Saito harassed and verbally abused the whistleblower, a former head of the prefecture’s Nishi-Harima office. Calling the former head a “liar” and “disqualified public servant,” the governor took disciplinary action against him.

It is absolutely unforgivable that the governor abused his power to drive the whistleblower to suicide.

The Japanese Communist Party Hyogo Prefectural Assemblymembers’ group on August 30 demanded that the prefectural assembly chair urge the assembly to express its intention in a non-confidence motion against the governor to call for his resignation.

In the survey which received responses from 70% of prefectural government employees, 525 respondents indicated that they “actually knew” or “heard from someone who actually knew” of the governor’s use of power harassment.

Meanwhile, the JCP Hyogo Prefectural Committee has squarely demanded that the governor step down and that the assembly thoroughly get to the bottom of the allegations.

Hyogo Prefecture has long been governed under the “all-are-ruling parties” structure excluding the JCP. However, both the Liberal Democratic Party, the largest ruling party, and the “Nippon Ishin no Kai” party, which supported Saito along with the LDP in the last gubernatorial election, can no longer defend him.

The JCP will continue to work to find out the whole truth about the allegations and press the governor to resign. The JCP will, as always, spare no effort to establish a democratic, fair, and harassment-free prefectural government putting the lives and livelihoods of prefectural residents first.