I won’t be distracted by your insults, smear campaign – Oppong Nkrumah to critics of ‘papa no’ comment

Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah appeared to have bitten more than he could chew as a ‘jest’ comment which he passed in parliament landed him on the wrong side of the NDC and its supporters.

Over the weekend, Oppong Nkrumah was subjected to a tirade of abuses from some NDC figures who were unhappy with his description of John Jinapor as ‘papa no’.

Name-calling and mudslinging were the order of the day as some social media users, including the Director of Communications for the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi turned the heat on the Ofoase-Ayirebi MP.

But according to Oppong Nkrumah, his comment in parliament has been ‘mischievously’ overblown and taken out of contest.

He recognizes that the attacks are an attempt by the opposition party and its member to get him distracted from delivering on his mandate as the government’s official spokesperson.

Oppong Nkrumah reckons with few a months to a general election, attacks and allegations like this will be levelled against him and other government appointees but he remains focused.

“It was during a debate in Parliament that I referred to my good friend John Jinapor. I’m not sure John took offence but it’s something we normally do. It’s my other good friend Haruna Iddrissu who took offence and asked me to retract. Speaker intervened and asked that sleeping dogs lie but I decided to withdraw it and asked that they expunge it from the records”.

“Some of their members saw it on social media and on Saturday insulted me. They said unprintable words and abused me. It's an election year so all sort of allegations and character assassinations are expected. I will not be flustered or distracted from my work. There’s a job to be done and I will focus on that”.

He denied allegations that he disrespected parliament by using the phrase ‘papa no”.

“It’s an expression that is trending and I used it in jest. I didn’t mean any harm that’s why I asked for it to be expunged from the records. It was a light-hearted comment.