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"Ewes Are Inward Looking"

Sat, 10 May 2014 Source: Sarpong, Justice

, Victor Never Said That

Not directly. Can my friends and foes in the Ewe community hold their guns and allow me to explain?

President Mahama's speech to the Ndc supporters in Kumasi in which he is alleged to have said Asantes or Kumasi residents will never be appreciative even if he pave the roads with gold have elicited a storm of condemnation and defence from both sides of the political divide. Whether he is right or wrong is not the issue of this article but rather the hypocrisy of those who are defending this ethnocentric vituperations.

During a Radio debate on President Mahama's axiomatic obliquity, the Editor In-chief of the New Crusading Guide Newspaper Kweku Baako Jnr criticized the controversial comment in which President John Mahama is quoted to have said residents in Kumasi are ungrateful. Malik Baako Jnr said the comment was baseless and unpresidential.

In refuting Mr Baako's criticism, one Ametor Quarmyne, consultant to the NHIA said critics are making a mountain out of nothing. He said critics are only dabbling in "deliberate ploy of destruction." According to Quarmyne, President John Mahama only repeated a statement that was made by one Dr Safo Adu in 1992 who said no matter what development projects undertaken in Kumasi, the residents will still not vote for them. He said President John Mahama didn't say it. He only repeated it.

Mr Ametor, an Ewe should have known better to defend something similar to what Victor Owusu did more than forty years ago that Ewes have not forgiven him and Asantes. If Mahama should be forgiven for repeating what supposedly was said by Dr Sarfo Adu, then why is that Ewes are still riled by Victor Owusu's inward looking response to Dr Agama's accusation that Akans are inward looking?

Let's go back to memory lane and recount what happened in Parliament in 1970 when Victor Owusu supposedly said 'Ewes are inward looking'.

Victor Owusu never said Ewes are inward looking but was rather refuting the accusation by opposition leader Dr. Agama who has accused Akans of sidelining Ewes in government jobs and are inward looking. Victor Owusu responded that, as an Ewe, Dr Agama cannot accuse anybody of inward looking.Ametor, are you telling us Ewes can get upset about what Victor Owuzu said but Asantes have no right to be upset for this diarrhea of the mouth speech by Mahama?

Ghana belong to all of us and we should all be proud of the peaceful co-existence of all the tribes in Ghana where intermarriages has diluted tribalism and ethnocentrism for the betterment of our country and any deviation from this course should be condemned irrespective of where it is coming from. MR Ametor's hypocrisy should not be allowed to stand.

Justice Sarpong

(CARDINAL of TRUTH)

Columnist: Sarpong, Justice