2017 review: First causality under Akufo-Addo’s administration

The first person in the administration of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who was pushed to resign was Deputy Minister of Agriculture, William Agyapong Quaitoo less than 3 months in office.

He was captured on tape making comments that sought to suggest that people from the three regions of the north are difficult and insincere in August 2017.

The Minister who was responding to complaints from farmers in the area suggesting that their farms have been destroyed by the fall armyworm and therefore appealing for some form of compensation in an interview said: “If anybody who is the north and said his farm was destroyed by fall armyworm the person must prove it.

Our brothers (in the North) it is so difficult to deal with them. I lived there for 27 years, I speak Dagbani like a Dagomba and all that. They are very difficult people. Nobody can substantiate.

If anybody says that his farm was destroyed by armyworm, the person would have to come and prove it. We have no records of that. It’s just a way of taking money from the government: that’s what they do all the time…”

Following pressure from some people of Northern extraction who were not enthused about his comment, he forced to tender in his resignation on August 29, 2017.

According to the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin the president duly accepted his resignation.

“The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, this evening accepted the resignation from office of the Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Hon. William Quaitoo, MP, which takes immediate effect.

The President wished him the very best in his future endeavours”, he revealed in a release.