Re: Now Akufo-Addo and Osafo Maafo Call Ashanti’s “Criminals*”

On Monday, 26 April, 2010, an article with the above heading was posted on GhanaWeb and the author, one Mr. Kofi Amankwah (New York) sought to say that I, Yaw Osafo Maafo, had said to delegates in the Agona East constituency that “the persecution of the NPP Ashanti elites is not Akyem peoples business or their concern. The Ashanti’s have their own problems that they have to deal with themselves.”

I feel obliged to respond to the above comments purported to have been made by me, particularly because of the kinds of slants being put on it by sections of the media and some politicians.

The facts of the matter are that on 22nd April, 2010, at Agona Swedru, I addressed delegates of the Agona East Constituency, when I visited the constituency with Nana Akufo-Addo and his campaign team to sell his message of hope to delegates. During the Question and Answer section, a delegate expressed worries over comments an Ashanti regional officer of the party had made on a radio station in Kumasi that Ms. Gloria Akuffo, former Aviation Minister and I, former Finance Minister, had been left out of the Ghana International Airline (GIA) prosecution for some reason, when our deputies were in court answering charges of willfully causing financial loss to the state.

In my response to the question at Agona Swedru, this is what I said: “The financial transactions being examined by the prosecution started from March 2005. For this period in question, I was not at the Ministry of Finance & Economic Planning, but rather at the Ministry of Education and Sports. I left the Finance Ministry by the end of January 2004 and the period in question concerning GIA spans from March 2005 to December 2008.”

I never mentioned the name of any ethnic group in my response and even in this write-up, I will not do so. Indeed, I was also invited to the CID to write a statement to this effect.

For a party that I have been a part of from the very beginning, and worked diligently together with many others to ensure its firm establishment and growth, the last thing I will wish or do will be to actively or indirectly promote or assist the persecution of its members.

I know the law is on their side and I pray to God that we should work together as a team for their vindication and acquittal. It is my hope that we will continue to see ourselves as one party and one family.

*Signed*

*For: Yaw Osafo Maafo*