‘Spio was evasive’

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Sunyani east, Kwasi Ameyaw Kyeremeh has stated the Minister-designate for Trade and Industry, Ekwow Spio-Garbrah was largely “evasive” in his answers during the six-hour vetting on Wednesday.

Speaking to Joy Fm after the vetting, Mr. Kyeremeh said the nominee refused to give categorical answers.

When the NPP MP asked the nominee about his ‘Team B’ ministers’ mantra as published in a newspaper, Mr Spio-Garbrah said he was expecting that question and that the issue had been taken out of context and given a propaganda twist.

Instead of admitting the statement, the nominee parried it, saying he never described the ministers as

‘Team B’ ministers but as a communication and public relations expert he was only conveying the public sentiments about the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government under the leadership of President Atta Mills to those at the helm of affairs.

He said his views were deliberately twisted for propaganda, explaining that “I was reporting on what I had heard on radio about some members referring to ministers as Team A and Team B.

“If one were reading this article carefully you’ll reach the conclusion that Ekwow Spio-Garbrah has not said that all members of the government are Team A or Team B; neither has he said that any member of the government was Team A or Team B,” he stated.

Mr Ameyaw-Kyeremehis said Spio’s sudden somersault was a simple lesson to all politicians: “Don’t open your mouth too wide.”

The Sunyani East MP believed the nominee was forced to eat back his own words.

Baba Jamal, Deputy Minister of Labour and Employment, wondered how the nominee would now relate to the same ministers he had early on described as Team B, an indication that the apology Spio claimed he offered did not go down well with the affected people.

According to Jamal, the minister-designate will struggle to work with other ministers in the Mahama led administration because of the Team B comment.

Baba Jamal said the apology would do very little to enhance the strained relationship that exists between him and other appointees in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.

“He has apologised but not everyone has forgiven him. How is he going to work with the people he referred to as ‘Team B’ because some will not accept his apology? How can he want to be part of a “Team B” that worked to retain the government that he now wants to be part of?” the Akwatia MP quizzed in an interview with the local media.