Politics of Monday, 4 August 2014

Source: Daily Guide

Ex-Minister jabs Mahama

Former Foreign Affairs Minister, Akwasi Osei Adjei has condemned the decision of President John Dramani Mahama to communicate?to the populace through the social media.

President Mahama usually reaches out to the citizenry via Facebook where he solicits their views on national policies and issues.

According to Mr. Osei Adjei, “Personally, I think it is not proper for the president of the country to own a personal social media account to solicit the views of the public on key national issues.”

“Such platforms can give people the opportunity to insult and also cast insinuations at the president who is the number one gentleman on the land.”

He was of the view that any derogatory remarks that would be made about the president would negatively affect Ghanaians in general.

Speaking on Angel FM in Kumasi, Mr. Osei Adie, who served under the previous Kufuor administration, said social media was not used by ex-President Kufuor to reach out to the people during his tenure.

He noted that if the President relies on the social media to communicate with the public, he/she could end up exposing his plans and programmes for the country to the outside world, which is very dangerous.”

Governance is serious businesses so it is not appropriate for the President to act in a manner that would enable other countries know his plans, he indicated.

He urged the President to stop using social media to communicate with the citizenry and rather concentrate fully on his agenda to move the country forward.