Health Minister-designate, Mr Alex Segbefia has withdrawn the 'regional' statements in which he was said to have asked indigenes of the Volta region to make use of him while he was a Minister.
Addressing a gathering at the Dumenyo festival of the people of Tadzewu in the Ketu North District of the Volta region at the weekend, Mr Segbefia asked indigenes of the Volta region to take advantage of his appointment in government to develop their region, Starrfmonline.com reported.
He was quoted as saying although he would be minister for all Ghanaians, he was mindful of the fact that he hailed from the Volta region and therefore had a responsibility towards people from that region.
“When ministers are being appointed, it is done on the basis of regional balance. And so there were many people who could have been chosen for this position but the lot fell on my head and so I do not look at it as a personal achievement but a regional achievement,” the former deputy defense stated at the festival.
He continued: “And so the region must understand that although I am minister of health for the whole country, I am also a minister of health who hails from the Volta region.”
“Ministerial positions are like football coaches and so you do not know when you will be changed so if you do not use me while I am there, don’t blame anybody tomorrow”.
That statement has attracted a number of condemnations with people saying it amounted to discrimination and ethnocentrism.
When Mr Segbefia appeared before the Parliamentary Appointments Committee to be vetted for his new position as Minister of Health on Monday morning and was asked about the statements, he decided to withdraw it.
It was the Member of Parliament for Manhyia South, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh who brought the nominee’s attention to the publication and asked him to clarify by either associating with or disassociating from it.
Mr Segbefia did not deny the statement but rather explained that, he had said a lot of things at the forum and that he withdraws it if it offended other people.
He however told the appointments committee that his comments have been taken out of contest.
“I think that eh! I know that a lot of the things that have been said appears accurate but I didn’t take a written statement and I think that the statement and the way it has been reported is taking me completely out of context.”
“However I can appreciate why in this current time that we live in some people might take outrage at this statement even though it has no relationship with tribal or ethnic connotations. It was a regional based statement, and if that is the case and people have taken outrage, I'm prepared to withdraw that aspect of it and say that I have no intention whatsoever of creating any level of ethnic …"
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