‘Whining spat’: NPP happy with Deputy Minister’s apology

The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has said it is happy that the Deputy Minister of Trade, Robert Ahomka-Lindsay, has done the honourable thing by apologising for his “stop whining” comments.

Mr Ahomka-Lindsay was flaked for his comments by critics who described the “whining spat” as harsh and arrogant.

Mr Lindsay at an event organized by the diaspora community in Accra said:“Nobody likes whiners, people that spend all the time whining really get on people’s nerves. So, stop whining; stop saying this doesn’t work, that doesn’t work; please, we know it doesn’t work so stop whining all the time saying it doesn’t work. If it worked, you probably won’t be sitting there,” he told the gathering to their chagrin.

But the Deputy Trade Minister reacting to the fallout from his remarks in a statement issued on Thursday said the comments were not intended to malign anybody but was made out of his experience as a returnee from the diaspora.

“None of my comments were meant to cast aspersions. They were an expression of my personal experience,” the statement said.

He added: “I wish to assure the people of Ghana and all those who have been offended by the comments that I did not in any way mean to sound offensive in my presentation. I hold all Ghanaians in the greatest of respect and will not in any way do or say anything that will impugn their integrity.”

According to him, the clip making rounds on social media in which he was heard condemning the Ghanaian diaspora of whining was a complete misrepresentation of his 14 minutes long speech he delivered.

The National Youth Organizer of the NPP, Sammy Awuku in an interview said he admired the maturity level of the Deputy Minister in rendering the apology after realizing a section of the public had issues about his comments.

“President Akufo Addo then as Flagbearer worked hard during the campaign and consistently begged for votes from the electorates to the extent that he was laughed at by then sitting President Mahama before he could win the 2016 elections. What the NPP expects from our ministers is for them to be measured in their utterances and cautious in their public engagements.

We’ll not allow appointees to get us back into opposition. We won’t always get it right but we shouldn’t also deliberately get it wrong. For us as a party we are satisfied with the statement he’s put out and we think it puts this matter to rest.”