General News of Monday, 16 September 2002

Source: gna

Jake urged to strive to prevent leakage of vital information

Opanin Kwame Afreh, President of the Asante United Front, has advised the Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs, Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey to be wary of people at the Castle who leaked vital government information to the media without authority.

He said the nefarious activities of such people were causing great embarrassment to the government and undermining the authority of the Ministry of Information, the official mouthpiece of the government.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Kumasi on Thursday, Opanin Afreh cited the recent speculation in the media that the President was going to reshuffle his Cabinet and the subsequent denial by the government, as causing great embarrassment to the government.

He said it was wrong for people in higher positions to reveal secrets to the media without authority and urged the government to strengthen its internal security systems at the Castle to prevent such leakages.

Opanin Afreh said President Kufuor had shown the maximum level of tolerance and there was the need for all Ghanaians to support the government to redeem the country from its present economic woes.

He also expressed concern about the utterances of some government officials, especially Regional Ministers and District Chief Executives and appealed to the NPP leadership to call them to order.