Nana Akomea calls dep. minister "stupid fool"

There was drama in the studios of an Accra-based commercial radio station, JoyFM, when the intellectual discourse on the station’s high-profile news analysis programme on Saturday, Newsfile, degenerated into the spewing forth of expletives between two very prominent individuals, albeit from opposing sides of the political divide.

The war of vituperative erupted when the Communications Director for the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Member of Parliament (MP) for Okaikoi South, Hon. Nana Akomea, minced no words in describing a Deputy Minister for Tourism, James Agyenim Boateng, “a stupid fool”.

The honourable MP felt the deputy minister had denigrated him by depicting him as an “unintelligent” person, and his repeated call for a retraction went unheeded.

The verbal altercation begun when the Deputy Tourism Minister described Nana Akomea as “a shameful-ridiculous” person for spearheading a press conference and alleging that a Deputy Minister for Information, Baba Jamal, under the aegis of government plans to use state funds to induce Journalists to embellish and distort stories to enhance the chances of the NDC ahead of the 2012 general elections.

“I hate to say this but I think I must. This is the most shameful, ridiculous limit I have seen a Director of Communications…and Nana Akomea did this as Director of Communications for his party and I think it is the most shameful ridiculous limit I have seen a political figure descend to,” James Agyenim-Boateng said brazenly.

The Deputy Minister for Tourism added that it was a bit strange for him to fathom how a member of parliament in the person of Nana Akomea could make such a preposterous allegation, when he (Akomea) personally knows that the voice on the tape is not that of Baba Jamal.

He further stated that taking a closer look at the demeanor of Nana Akomea on the day (of the press conference), he can boldly say that “he (Akomea) could not confidently articulate his position on the matter”.

“Nana Akomea and his likes, ought not be involved in an enterprise like this… I can’t leave him out,” he said.

He accused the NPP Communications Director of maligning the whole government machinery by suggesting that government was seeking to buy the conscience of journalist since till date he has not been able to prove the allegation.

“Everybody who knows Baba Jamal and has heard his voice before will tell you…you don’t need to be a voice expert to tell that it isn’t Baba Jamal’s voice on that tape. I think that it betrays the intelligence of those who addressed the press conference to come up with something as ridiculous.”

But he was sharply interrupted in his presentation by Nana Akomea who demanded “a retraction of the ‘unintelligent’ insinuation” by the deputy minister; but an unfazed Agyenim-Boateng refused to accede to his request.

A furious Nana Akomea then charged on the Deputy Tourism Minister labeling him “a stupid fool” for insinuating that he (Akomea) was “unintelligent”.

“You are a stupid fool if you will sit on this program and call me unintelligent. You are a stupid fool and you are a government minister…you are calling me unintelligent. You are a very stupid fool. Stupid fool, you are being stupid,” Nana Akomea fumed.