‘It was satire’ - Franklin Cudjoe responds to German Ambassador

Founding President of IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, Franklin Cudjoe, has explained that a comment he made about the coronavirus situation in some European countries has been misinterpreted.

Mr Cudjoe had posted on Facebook on Thursday, October 30, 2020, that “France announces 2nd national lockdown. Belgium, UK, Germany completely overwhelmed by Covid. And Donald Trump is solely responsible…”

However, shortly after the post, German Ambassador to Ghana, Christoph Retzlaff, said the comments by Mr Cudjoe were not accurate.

Mr Retzlaff Tweeted that although he does not speak of other countries, “…to say Germany was completely overwhelmed by Covid is simply wrong.”

“Don’t compare our crisis management with Trump approach,” he said in the Twitter post.

Responding to the German Ambassador, Mr Cudjoe said that by stating that Trump was responsible for the surge in coronavirus cases was pure satire and should not have been taken seriously.

He sent the following explanation to GhanaWeb on Friday, October 30, 2020.

I have seen a purported response from my friend, the German Ambassador to Ghana to my coronavirus statement on how Europe is being savagely ravaged in what scientists call 'second wave'. I added, that Trump must be responsible for the cases in Europe. Deeply read, it should be obvious that the reference to Trump here is purely satirical and not in anyway suggesting ( what the Ambassador thinks) that Trump has managed the virus better than Germany, which continues to be record astonishingly worrying increases in corona cases.

So my dear Ambassador Retzlaff, by my adding that Trump is responsible for the rising cases in Europe should let every speaker of English language see it that way - Satire. There was no reference to Trump managing coronavirus better than Germany in my post. Cases continue to rise in Europe, Germany included, and we pray that just as Ghana and most African countries have managed coronavirus, may you all in Europe benefit from our rule book, but I will continue to pray for you to manage your cases better— Franklin Cudjoe.