..."Okumkom" is the problem - Smith

The special aide of former President Jerry John Rawlings , Mr. Victor Smith, has stated that at times the founder of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) goes wayward when he speaks extempore.

He explained that sometimes the former President comes out with certain pronouncements he (Smith) thinks should have been said by someone else, or, better still, they could have been said at different occasions instead.

?The man cannot be wholly blamed because he (Rawlings) is also a human being.? he defended.

Smith made these observations in reaction to a comment made by the former Chief Executive Officer of Kumasi Metropolitan Authority (KMA), Nana Akwasi Agyeman, during an interview on FOX a private radio station in Kumasi on Monday, this week.

The former NDC kingpin who announced his defection soon after the 2000 elections is reported In the Kumasi Mail of last Monday to have stated that he had been advising the former President on the way he talks and trades insults at people at the helm of affairs, but he has failed to listen to him.

Smith asked in what capacity Nana Agyeman was aadvising the ex-President, and continued that even Nana Kwasi Agyeman was a problem for NDC in the Ashanti Region and therefore had cost them a lot in the area.

He indicated that he did not believe the report and would expect the former KMA boss to come out and deny it.