'Daily Guide lock-out needless' - Ashanti Regional Minister

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, has said it was pointless for some youth of the region to lock the offices of the Daily Guide in Kumasi.

The youth carried out that action on Wednesday, October 18 in protest against a publication by the newspaper regarding the alleged involvement of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II in a £350,000 money laundering scandal in the UK.

The group threatened not to open the office until the paper retracts the story and renders an unqualified apology to the Asantehene and his subjects.

Speaking on this development in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom on Accra 100.5FM on Thursday, October 19, Mr Osei Mensah said: “This action by the youth was needless. They could have used other ways to protest against the publication without locking the offices of the Daily Guide. You can’t take the laws into your own hands.”

“They may have a point in protesting against that particular publication, but the way and manner they chose to demonstrate their displeasure was needless,” he added.

Meanwhile the newspaper has said it won’t apologise for the publication.

Speaking to Class News, chief news editor of the Daily Guide, Alhaji A.R. Gomda, said they do not owe anyone an apology.

“Apologise for what?” he quizzed.

“I wonder if they can pinpoint to any act of disrespect to Asanteman or Otumfuo. We only did a story and we were very careful about this. We respect our chieftaincy institutions. Kumasi is one of our key areas so we are very careful about the sensibilities of the people in Asanteman.

We are Ghanaians, we respect our chiefs, we wouldn’t do anything which will undermine the integrity of our chieftaincy institution. They should come and pinpoint any aspect of the story which undermines the integrity of Asanteman. They cannot pinpoint. It was just a straight forward story,” Alhaji Gomda stated.