Kofi Badukrom (B/A) March 29 GNA - Nana Kwaku Boakye Agyemang 111, Chief of Dormaa Kofi Badukrom in the Brong Ahafo Region, has asked the ex-President Jerry John Rawlings to apologise to President John Agyekum Kufuor and the citizenry for comparing the Head of State with an armed robber.

Flt.Lt. Rawlings was said to have compared President Kufuor toAtta Ayi, a 32-year-old mechanic who had confessed to a series of armed robbery cases in Accra, at a mini -rally to climax a street demonstration organised by the Committee for Joint Action in Accra over the 50 per cent hike in petroleum prices dubbed: "Second wahala demonstration" in Accra.

Addressing a press conference at his palace at Kofi Badukrom on the Ghana Cote d'Ivoire border, Nana Agyemang admonished the former President to respect established authority, particularly the Presidency.

"If ex-President Rawlings can have the audacity to compare our democratically elected President to the country's notorious armed robber, Ataa Ayi, then the dignity and pride of the good people of the country is not recognized.

"As a chief, I am non-partisan but I cannot sit down unconcerned if the number one gentleman in the country is ... embarrassed and insulted in broad day light by no other person than a person who has once occupied the highest office of the country and is supposed to know better," he said.