Mills’ Critics Have Rotten Teeth - Koku Anyidoho

The presidential spokesperson, Koku Anyidoho, yesterday mocked those who were criticizing President Atta Mills for finding out the cost of Kenkey at the Nima market.

He said those “who have made the presidential inquisition of kenkey price their chewing stick should go ahead with it because clearly they want to use that to “clean” their discolored and stinking” teeth. Koku Anyidoho made the statement when he commented on the president’s visit to the Nima Maamobi and Mallam Atta markets in Accra on Emak FM, a private radio station in Koforidua yesterday.

When the host of the show, Francis Annoh-Dompreh asked him to clarify what he had said, he sang a song to further buttress his point, saying “chewing sticks are meant to whiten discoloured teeth” therefore the president’s critics could use his visit to the Nima market to clean their “discoloured and bad” teeth. He wondered why the president’s critics could make a mountain out of the visit, adding that the visit confirmed the President’s care for the ordinary Ghanaian. President Mills had been prompted to visit markets following a GNA report that the price of Ga kenkey was now GHC1 whilst the size had shrunk.

The regional youth organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Frank Annoh-Dompreh, who was a panelist on the show, expressed his disgust at Anyidoho’s comment, saying the comment was a mark of arrogance and disrespect for Ghanaians. “Koku Anyidoho has consistently shown that he does not respect Ghanaians so does the presidency and Ghanaians will show him in December that they cannot be insulted in this manner,” he stated.

On the president’s visit to the Nima Market to inquire about the price of a ball of kenkey, the NPP regional youth organizer said the president should have rather asked for the price of a bag of cement, cost of sending one’s ward to the senior high school, the cost of rented accommodation and cost of travelling from Accra to Kumasi.