Reinstate former Interior Minister

A former Deputy Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Sam Pee Yalley has urged the President to seriously consider reinstating the former Minister of the Interior, Alhaji Malik Alhassan Yakubu, to his former position.

In his view, natural justice demands that once the former Minister was completely cleared of any wrong doing by the Justice Wuaku Commission and other investigative bodies, ?it is only fair that he returned back to government.?

Speaking to the ?Evening News? in an interview, Yalley pointed out that Alhaji Yakubu as a Minister conducted himself so well that ?even though some of us are not in the same political camp with him, we feel that the man deserves to be given back his former position.?

The former Deputy Minister said the continuous exclusion of Alhaji Yakubu from government was creating the impression that implicitly the government did not trust or believe him.

?Nobody has come out to challenge his innocence and I think, it is only fair and proper that he is allowed to serve hi nation the best way he knows,? he emphasised. Yalley observed that the current situation where one person (Dr Addo Kufuor) was combing the Defence and Interior offices was not the best.

According to him, although Dr Addo Kufuor was performing creditably, the fact that he could do better by focusing on one Ministry whilst someone equally competent as Alhaji Yakubu handled the Interior Ministry meant that the nation was the loser.

Touching on the Dagbon crisis itself, Yalley expressed the view that no single individual held the key to resolving the thorny issues facing Dagbon as a Kingdom and that is what is important that both Andanis and Abudus allowed the collective good of the state to inform their decisions rather than to resort to seeking parochial and sectionalist ideals.

The issues facing Dagbon, he said, transcended religious, political, cultural biases of individuals and that only an impassioned, non-partisan approach to their resolution could bring lasting peace to the Dagbon state.

Alhaji Yakubu resigned from his position following accusations of his complicity in a chieftaincy dispute that led to the murder of the Ya Na Yakubu Andani II, the overlord of Dagbon and about 40 others.

He resigned together with Gen Joshua Hamidu, who was then the National Security Advisor and Prince Imoro Andani, the Northern Regional Minister who were all accused by the Andani Gate of complicity in the disturbances.