Mpiani must be sincere with Ghanaians - Kwakye Ofosu

A deputy Minister of Information and Media Relations, Mr. Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has hit back at the former Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Mpiani, asking him to be honest and sincere to Ghanaians on the number of Presidential staffers former President Kufuor had.

The deputy Minister in an earlier interview with XYZ News in a bid to defend President Mahama’s list of Presidential staffers submitted to Parliament, claimed that former President John Agyekum Kufuor even had Spiritual and Cocoa Advisors at the Presidency.

The claim was, however, dismissed by Kwadwo Mpiani who also described Mr. Kwakye Ofosu as a 'liar'.

"That Deputy Minister is just lying...I mean, you know, I think we should go beyond this sort of equalization. Assuming even if it was there at that time, which it wasn’t, does it mean we should continue to have it for a Minister to come and say that [Kufuor] had Advisors on spiritualism and what not.

“Who were those Advisors? A minister should not behave that way. We should move forward…we can’t progress if that’s the attitude we take".

But the deputy Minister has hit back at the former Chief of Staff further claiming that President Kufuor even had a social secretary to the President and swimming pool attendants.

“I regret deeply the fact [that] Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani, who I have a lot of respect for was rather less than candid in his submission on this matter…with the greatest respect to Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani, I believe that he could have been more candid to the people of this country”.

Mr. Kwakye Ofosu maintained that Kufuor had the highest number of appointees during his tenure stating that a 2005 list presented to parliament far exceeded the list presented to Parliament by President Mahama.

“…the claims and criticisms that have emanated from members of the NPP cannot be founded on a genuine desire to ensure that we have a smaller size of government or there is prudence in public expenditure, it is simply in line with the NPP’s believe in the politics of convenience which leads them to criticize things that they themselves know that is not true”.