Legal Practitioner and Editor of the Ghanaian Observer newspaper, Egbert Faible believes heads must begin to roll at the Office of the Presidency and has called on President Mills to...
...act swiftly so as to preserve the sanctity of his office following an admission by his Director of Communications, Koku Anyidoho, that he spoke on his (Mills�) behalf without authorization.
The newspaper editor opines that Mr Anyidoho acted irresponsibly, his explanations untenable whiles his conduct has brought the presidency into disrepute.
Following a system failure and malfunctioning of flood lights at the Baba Yara Sports stadium in Kumasi on Friday, which led to the suspension of a World Cup qualifier between the Black Stars and the Crocodiles of Lesotho for nearly an hour and a half, the Communications Director at the presidency told Anim Addo of Peace FM Sports in an interview that the Ashanti Regional boss of the ECG, Alhaji Abdulai Kurah, had been fired with immediate effect upon President Mills� instructions.
��He (ECG Boss in Ashanti) has been fired because he has questions to answer regarding the incident in Kumasi. How the floodlights failed to function�President Mills is very furious�Look, this thing has been going on for far too long and it cannot continue, it cannot continue. Why...what at all is wrong that we can�t watch this match live? So he (ECG boss) has questions to answer and not only him,�the head of everybody who has a role to play in the matter will roll�if after investigations he (ECG Boss) is found not to be culpable we will see about that,� he said.
Asked why it is only Alhaji Kurah who is being asked to vacate his position, the Director of Communications at the presidency flared.
�Do you realize the harm you the media are doing to Ghanaians? We are all witnesses to this embarrassing incident and instead of commending the President (Mills) for the steps he has taken and offering him your support, you see what you are driving at? Why? What at all do you want President Mills to do again for you (the media) to appreciate his efforts?...the one whose head is rolling first is the (Ashanti ECG boss)�why ain�t you thanking your stars that President Mills has taken this line of action?...After the completion of investigations anybody whose commission or omission led to this will be fired, but for now why don�t we thank God for his small mercies, eh?...so the gov�t is saying that a decision has been taken to interdict the ECG boss and let us look into the matter, my brother why can�t you accept that?� an obviously exasperated Koku Anyidoho quizzed.
But barely 24 hours after Mr. Anyidoho�s declaration, the Information Ministry on behalf of government, issued a press release to deny the statement that Alhaji Abdulai Kurah has been dismissed.
A rueful Koku Anyidoho, in a quick volte-face stated on Joy FM�s Newsfile programme that the supposed suspension of the Ashanti ECG boss was made not on the instructions of President Mills, but rather some key persons in government took the decision and he communicated it.
But the legal practitioner is clearly not satisfied with the explanation and wants President Mills to fire his spokesperson for constantly being �irresponsible� and for bringing he (President Mills) into �unnecessary line of fire�.
To him, the danger of the scenario was that people will now tend not to attach any importance to statements made by Mr. Anyidoho.
Speaking to the issue on Newsfile on JoyFM, Mr. Faible further stated that President Mills cannot claim he was unaware of the purported suspension of the ECG boss as stated by Mr Anyidoho and believed that the Communications Director at the Presidency was being used as a scape-goat.
�I believe that President Mills knew about what Koku Anyidoho was going to say. Nobody can convince me that President Mills didn�t know about it�it has backfired and I mean of course why�Koku is lesser so let him take the flak. But I won�t let Koku take the flak even though I know he hasn�t conducted himself well in that position. I want the president to let Ghanaians know that he doesn�t connive and condone such acts. Between the purported Ashanti Regional Manager of the ECG (a post which doesn�t exist anyway) and Koku, who should be fired?... who should be fired? What has happened is a shame; it is reckless and irresponsible; and the earlier the right things are done for Ghanaians to take the presidency seriously, the better...Is this good character, the character of a president whose spokesperson will speak on a national matter where there are experts like the energy ministry,�the sports council [without authority?],� he said.
Source: Chris Joe Quaicoe/Peacefmonline.com
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