….Stop The Hypocrisy

…Leave Us Alone And Deal First With Candidates Playing Tribal Card Openly

The NPP General Secretary, Ohene Ntow has been told by Veep Aliu Mahama's lieutenants to stop playing the ostrich and face up to the fact that leading candidates in the NPP presidential race have been openly playing the tribal card. While maintaining that Veep Aliu Mahama has not himself said anything that borders on tribalism, they insist that it is hypocritical for the NPP to pretend that ethnicity has not been an issue in the race. The Advisor to Veep Aliu Mahama, Amoako Tufuor expressed these sentiments on Citi News last Friday. He was reacting to news that NPP General Secretary Nana Ohene Ntow had called on Aliu Mahama to distance himself from statements earlier made by him at the team's Mankesim Rally- statements which had been described as ethnocentric by the party's Chief Scribe. "What is all this hypocrisy?" Amoako Tuffuor queried. "All the major aspirants have been playing the tribal card," he charged. The Vice President's team stated that one prominent candidate (whose name they would not mention but widely believed to be Alan Kyeremanteng) has been on record, touting his ethnic background and even that of his wife and boasting about how the couple's tribal heritage bodes well for NPP's quest to win the 2008 elections. The team also stated that another candidate has had a whole region (together with chiefs and elders) coming out to rally behind him. "Where was Ohene Ntow when these things were taking place?" Amoako Tuffuor asked. The NPP strongman intimated that the double standards being displayed by Nana Ohene Ntow amounts to some discrimination against the candidature of Vice President Aliu Mahama. When told that the party might sanction him if he refused to retract his statement that NPP must choose Aliu Mahama in order to dispel the perception that it was not an Akan party, Mr Amoako Tuffuor countered: "Let Nana Ohene Ntow first sanction those aspirants openly playing the tribal card before coming to deal with me." He maintained that what he said at the Mankessim Rally was a thought provoking statement that should encourage a dispassionate discussion. "Let's stop being hypocrites," he reiterated.

Ghana's Envoy To Canada Terrorizing Staff

Lens Monitoring Desk Report,

The Ghana high commission in Ottawa is in the news again. The High Commissioner and her children are alleged to have subjected their cook, Sammy Yaw Amponsah, to severe harassment.

The Commissioner's 11-year-old son, Kofi Amoakohene, allegedly poured soup on the cook, beat him up and tore his shirt into pieces.

The High Commissioner, Dr. Margaret ivy Amoakohene has also collected a total of seven thousand Canadian dollars from the cook. She collected seven hundred dollars for ten months as the cook's plane ticket. However a check from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicates that the cook's plane ticket was paid by the ministry. Again she asked the poor cook to use a total of three hundred dollars every two weeks for grocery for the entire household of the High Commissioner for two months. So far she has collected 8,200 Canadian dollars from the cook.

The cook has so far reported to the Canadian authorities, through the Canadian foreign ministry, who are investigating the case. The poor cook has in the meantime been placed in a refugee camp. When the Ghana mission in Ottawa was contacted, officials there acknowledged that the cook has suffered for one year; they have seen the torn shirt and witnessed the cook being harassed by the high commission. The officials say they are all prepared to make information available. They are however pleading that the cook's 8,200 dollars be retrieved from the High Commissioner.

Officers at the High Commission are also calling on the Minister for Foreign Affairs to come to their aid as they are subjected to all kinds of harassments by Madam Amoakohene. They are calling for investigations into her conduct.