Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, Malik Kweku Baako Jnr, suspects that failure at the presidency to rein in the AMA boss when he started his renaming spree has unnecessarily empowered him to take decisions beyond his reach.
He was sharing his thoughts on Joy FM, Multi TV news analysis programme Newsfile, about the brouhaha surrounding the ruined attempt to replace the Theodosia Okoh Hockey Stadium, named after the designer of the Ghana flag with that of the late President John Evans Atta Mills.
Mr Baako indicated that the lackadaisical posture of the presidency towards Mr Vanderpuje has sort of sown impunity in him.
The Mayor of Accra, Alfred Vanderpuje is on record to have renamed the Ohene Gyan Stadium, as well as renaming a school and a high street in the Accra metropolis after Ghana's late president John Evans Atta Mills. His latest attempt to rename the hockey pitch after Prof. Mills, which attracted huge outcry and public backlash was finally halted by the presidency.
Mr Baako also believes previous events give credence to the fact that the presidency might have a clue to the renaming fiasco.
He said when the presidency and parliament refused to speak against the renaming of national assets, "the seeds of impunity were sown; so we unleashed an octopus, in the form of the AMA boss, and they started running riot, naming anything the way they wanted. Sometimes driven by certain ethnocentric passion".
However, Mr Baako also pointed out that the attempt by the AMA mayor to rename the national hockey pitch was borne out of ignorance.
He stated candidly that after listening to the explanation offered by Mr Alfred Oko Vanderpuje to defend his action, it was clear that if he had known about the contributions of Madam Theodosia Okoh, he would not have "embarrassed himself" by replacing her name with the late Professor John Atta Mills.
He said apart from the "lack of institutional memory" on the part of the AMA, the gaffe was also as a result of Mr Vanderpuje's "ineptitude and sycophancy".
"It is such a huge inexcusable blunder," he said, adding that he is still at a lost as to what thinking went into the decision.
He said the action does not inspire people to work for their country, and Mills himself would have rejected it if he were to be alive.
Meanwhile, Nana Ato Dadzie a member of the NDC legal team has rejected claims that the presidency was aware of the renaming of the hockey pitch.
Nonetheless, he is also amazed as to what might have motivated Mr Vanderpuje to take that unpopular decision.
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