The Communication Director for the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Yaw Buaben Asamoah has waded into the controversy over calls for President Akufo-Addo to render an apology to the Paramount Chief for Aflao Traditional Area, Torgbui Amenya Fiti V in the Volta Region.
The Paramount Chief had given the government four months to complete the Community Day Senior High School within his area which had stalled since 2016.
“Your coming here is redemption to the suffering people of Aflao. Carry this message to the Minister of Education that come February, I want this school to be opened,” he reiterated when the Minority Members of Parliament’s Education Committee visited the area last Tuesday.
Speaking in an interview with Peace FM last Thursday, President Akufo-Addo in response clapped back at the Chief of Aflao over his criticism on the abandoned E-block school started by the NDC in Aflao.
“Many of the E-blocks are being worked on across the country. Is he [Torgbui Amenya Fiti] the one to give the minister an ultimatum, then he should go ahead and complete the project,” he told host Kwami Sefa Kai.
This has angered some Members of Parliament from the Volta Region who have demanded an apology from President Akufo-Addo for calling the bluff of the Aflao chief over an uncompleted School building in his area.
Ketu South MP Dzifa Abla Gomashie in a Facebook post described President Akufo-Addo’s comments as unwarranted.
Speaking to Naa Dedei Tettey on Starr Today, the lawmaker intimated, “if it is a jest, well it’s not even funny, if he said it in jest I don’t find it funny at all because I feel as if he ridiculed the paramount chief, and it is not acceptable. What the Torgbui Adzonugaga Amenya Fiti said was about the people of Aflao benefitting from the free SHS.”
However, the Communication Director for the NPP thinks otherwise.
Speaking to Nana Aba Anamoah on Starr Chat Wednesday, Yaw Buaben Asamoah said he does not see the need for the President to apologize adding that the NPP administration has invested in education particularly in the secondary schools across the country.
“I don’t think President Akufo-Addo will deliberately denigrate a chief in public. That’s why I don’t think there is a need for an apology. I don’t think the President should apologize. Perhaps the questioner put it in a way that made it look like an ultimatum. I don’t think the President will insult a chief on radio.
“This is not an arrogant posture. The President listens. We have nine brand new secondary schools ongoing. We have put existing secondary schools across the country with over 500 structures,” he disclosed.
