Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Hanna Tetteh, took on the US Embassy in her country, on social media site Twitter, over a cheeky tweet at her country’s president by the Embassy’s official twitter handle.
The US Embassy’s twitter handle posted what some critics have described as a flippant retort to a tweet by President John Mahama, which said: “As a people, we have had to make sacrifices. I wish to assure you that the results of these sacrifices would begin to show very soon.”
“And what sacrifices are you making? Don't tell me that pay cut,” was the riposte from the Embassy's handle.
This sparked a social media blitz with critics taking on the Embassy over what the Mission later said was a mix-up.
“The earlier errant tweet was a private message mistakenly sent out on our account. The views expressed in no way reflect the views of the United States Government or the U.S. Embassy.”
The Embassy also said steps have been taken “to ensure that all of our employees fully understand their responsibility toward carefully managing our public outreach through social media.”
“We have apologised to the president and we offer an apology to the Ghanaian people. Our staff mixed a personal handle with that of the embassy's,” the Embassy stressed.
Hanna Tetteh, in a response tweeted that “the tweet was public & associated with your twitter handle. It was not a private/personal account.”
One of the critics of the errant tweet was Ghana’s National Youth Authority boss, Ras Mubarak, who demanded, via Facebook, that the US Ambassador be summoned by Hanna Tetteh, to explain the “diplomatic blunder.”
“To have the official US Embassy account respond to a tweet by President Mahama in such disrespectful terms is unforgivable," Mubarak fumed.
However, some Ghanaians on social media, including Egbert Faibille Jr., a Lawyer, have criticised the Foreign Affairs Minister's tweet-fight with the US Embassy.
