The Foreign Affairs Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey has laughed off claims that Ghana’s president Akufo-Addo garnered a disappointing two votes to lose out on the ECOWAS chairmanship slot to Togo’s Faure Gnassingbè.
Social media is awash with rumours that Akufo-Addo lost miserably to his Togolese counterpart, but Ghana’s foreign minister is surprised about the news since “there was no vote” at the Summit.
“It’s almost midnight and we just got back from Ecowas Summit in Monrovia. Just to set the records straight. I don’t know who put this out about an Ecowas vote today at the summit.
At the level of the heads of state, they mostly don’t vote on issues; as much as possible they go by consensus. There was no vote today,” the MP for Anyaa Sowutuom posted on Facebook.
She added: “It had already been agreed as per Ecowas rules of rotation that the chair of authority will be a francophone country and this time Togo. So sorry to disappoint some folks, Ecowas doesnt work like that. The chairmanship smoothly moved from Liberia to Togo.
“This propaganda will not wash. Guess what? It was President Akufo-Addo who proposed President Faure and all the others (peers) clapped unanimously in agreement. Shame on those who started spreading this falsehood. I’m off to bed.”
