Zita Okaikoi Fires Kufuor

Zita Okaikoi - Information Minister THE ATTA Mills government has condemned the recent interview granted by former President John Agyekum Kufuor on British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC’s) Network Africa programme. According to government’s official response to Mr. Kufuor’s comments on the BBC, signed by Zita Sabah Okaikoi, Minister of Information, the former president sought to create the “impression that government is vilifying him and other members who served under his administration”. “We wish to inform the former president that government has no intention of treating him with any form of contempt and by extension, vilifying him”, it said. It said that his actions were most unfortunate and spelt doom for the country especially at a period when the country’s democratic credentials had become adorable choruses on the lips of many and such great world leaders as United States President, Barack Hussein Obama. It stated that “for him to have taken an international platform such as the BBC to question the democratic credentials of the present government is highly unfathomable”. Furthermore, it said that as a government which believes in upholding the tenets of the rule of law “we consider ex-president Kufuor’s assertions on BBC’s Network Africa, which suggested that there has been a coup d’état in Ghana as most regrettable and a deliberate attempt by the former president to sabotage the present government and make Ghana as a whole the loser in the long term”. The statement mentioned that President Mills had shown dedication as well as commitment to the rule of law, the tenets of democracy, accountability and running a transparent administration. “Government wishes to state that accountability is part of democratic governance and it would be unfortunate for anyone to equate that with vindictiveness. In this regard, government would like to reassure all Ghanaians about its commitment to the rule of law”, it added. It however advised Mr. Kufuor to use what it portrayed as the appropriate state channels in order to communicate his grievances if any, “instead of going out to describe the government he peacefully handed over to a few months ago as a military government”. Mr. Kufuor had told the BBC that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government was constantly waging a campaign of slander against him and his former appointees in order to buy time to stabilize itself. He said the NDC’s approach to governance makes it look as though there had been a coup in the country. “There is a new government in place; it wants to find its feet. Perhaps they think they must position me in a certain way so the attention of the public will be drawn away from the government of the day”, he said. By Nathaniel Y.Yankson Daily Guide