Mills Is Being Inconsistent - Jake

The Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Jake Otanka Obetsebi Lamptey has revealed that �there is something really amiss if the President should say the Ga Mantse is on the stool illegitimately.� Speaking exclusively to the New Crusading Guide, Jake, as he is well known by, said by the courtesy call he paid to the Ga Mantse, Nii Tawiah II yesterday, he and his party considered it as a means of showing respect to the �owner of the Ga land.� He said since his party�s headquarters is situated on Ga Land, he saw no mistake in paying a courtesy call on the Ga Mantse and his other sub-chiefs.Asked if he shouldn�t have waited till disputes surrounding the legitimacy of the Ga Mantse were resolved, Mr. Obetsebi Lamptey said, �It was not wrong being at his enstoolment and so there should be nothing wrong with my paying a courtesy call on my king and ask for his blessings.� Distancing himself or the party from the Ga Mantse, he maintained, would amount to inconsistency not only on his part, but that of the NPP as well since he and some of his party members were present at the Ga Mantse�s enstoolment. He recalled that he was not alone at the Ga Chief�s enstoolment but recollected vividly that he saw former President Rawlings and President Mills � who was then the presidential candidate for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) � which government he (Mills) now heads. He was however, quick to add that neither he nor his party was in the best position to advise President Mills and his NDC compatriots on what to do; but cautioned that their duty was to keep the country peaceful for the current generation and posterity. Readers will recall that no so long ago, Prez. Mills relayed to Ghanaians his thoughts about the kingship of Nii Tackie Tawiah, known in private life as Mr. Joe Blankson, noting that he is on the stool illegitimately and so did not invite him (Ga Chief) to the State of the Nation�s Address read in Parliament recently by him (President). This issue raised so much controversy as a section on the Ga Traditional Council recognizes him as such and the other, recognizes him as the �wrong man in the right place.� This controversy led to the Ga Mantse flaying the President due to some assumptions made by the former that not only was the latter�s occupancy of the stool illegitimate, but also for the reason that he (Ga Mantse) had associated himself with the opposition NPP. The Dsaasetse � one of the traditional elders of the stool � rendered apologies to the President and disassociated himself and the Council from the utterances of the Ga Mantse saying, �the Ga Paramount Dsaasetse, the only legitimate and customarily mandated and recognized body of king-makers of the Paramount Stool have not at anytime installed anyone as Ga Mantse, since the demise of our illustrious Boni Nii Amugi II, for the Ga State.� Meanwhile, the Ga Mantse lauded the NPP and described them as very familiar friends of the Ga State. He also said �the NPP�s visit is very essential because it opens some avenues of communication between the people of the Ga State and at least one of the political units that vie for power to guide this country into greater prosperity.�