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Ghanaian minister resigns over negative comment

By Charles Coffie Gyamfi, Abeokuta
01 September 2017   |   4:00 am
The Ghanaian Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr. William Quaido yesterday resigned from President Nana Akufo-Addo’s 110 cabinet.Quaido’s resignation followed spate of public criticism that followed a negative comment he made during a radio programme.....

President Akufo Addo/ AFP PHOTO / Pius Utomi Ekpei

The Ghanaian Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr. William Quaido yesterday resigned from President Nana Akufo-Addo’s 110 cabinet.Quaido’s resignation followed spate of public criticism that followed a negative comment he made during a radio programme about the people in the Northern part of the country.

He said while answering a question during the programme that people from the Northern part of the country are very difficult to please.The Vice-President, Alhaji Mohammadu Bawunmia is from the North.

His boss, the Minister, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto was summoned to Parliament to explain why army worms were still massively destroying crops despite the huge sums of money the government had allocated to tackle the problem.Akoto was said to have told the Parliamentarians that his Ministry had completely tackled the problem.

But the following day, some farmers in the Northern Region came out publicly to say that the Minister was being economical with the truth and that the worms were still ravaging their crops.

When this was put to Quaido during the radio programme, his response was that the Northerners are extremely difficult to please, stressing that he stayed in that part of the country for 27 years so he knew what he was saying.

Criticisms that followed his comment was unimaginable.He offered a public apology for the comment but the Minority in Parliament, some individuals and concerned Civil Society Organisation called for his resignation despite his apology.

It was not clear whether President Akufo-Addo forced him to resign or he did so voluntarily.Just four days before Quaido’s resignation, at the New Patriotic Party (Akufo-Addo’s party), the President had issued a stern warning that as the “captain of the boat”, he would not, under any circumstances allow any party members to “rock the boat” and advised his party members be mindful of their utterances.

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