'Friends of Konadu' sting deputy minister over 'reckless' comments

Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings         A group calling itself Friends of Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings (FONKAR) has dismissed what it describes as the “reckless and cold-hearted comments” by the deputy Information Minister James Agyenim Boateng. In a statement issued in Accra and signed by FONKAR leading members Dela Coffie and Ransford Vanni-Amoah, the group said the minister "[lied] through the teeth" when he said: “the Rawlingses have rejected all provisional accommodation offered them by government.” “Whiles at it, Agyenim-Boateng lie through his teeth that Mr. Rawlings did liked the facility but the wife rejected it. The fact on the ground as it were does not support such reckless assertion and we are unnerved by the minister’s shallow-mindedness and his attempt to turn the Rawlingses against each other. “Just as we thought that Herbert Mensah, the man in the centre of the negotiation has clarified the issue, Omane Boamah deputy Minister of Science and Technology reiterated the earlier position by James Agyenim-Boateng on Joy Fm’s News File programme on Saturday 10th July 2010. “FONKAR wonders why responsible ministers of state will display such flowery stupidity, mental incompetence and unbridled arrogance in this sensitive issue. To suggest that Mrs. Rawlings rejected the facility on the grounds of preference rather than security considerations is ridiculous, unfounded and deplorable stunt. We call on the Chief of Staff to come clear on this issue as what has been put out in the public domain is nothing but a deliberate lie. “We are amazed at the level of extreme obsession by people in government to run down the Rawlingses and will not sit by and allow “strangers” in the NDC to destroy what has been built for well over 19 years. “FONKAR is compelled to issue this statement because it satisfies a conviction that, the display of unmatched folly by James Agyenim-Boateng, Omane Boamah and their likes, by spewing out nonsense, is becoming unbecoming. “Rather than tolerate plurality, the President and his advisers have continue to use their position as a platform to engage in behaviors that are untypical of the NDC,” the statement said. The group called on the President Mills to “show leadership and get rid of these political vultures and while at it, must not leave the party at the mercy of ‘agent provocateurs’ whose sole aim is to destroy the party with their greediness and politics of attrition.” It also urged the Rawlings to “Rawlingses to remain calm in the face of undue provocation.” Accommodation for the Rawlingses has generated headlines lately after Mrs Rawlings told Joy FM she has been on the lookout for an apartment to rent for her family. She has since a February fire outbreak at the former First Couple's Ridge residence lived with her mother in an edifice family friend and former football administrator Herbert Mensah claims he renovated. Story by Fiifi Koomson/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana