NPP MPs want Kobby Acheampong sacked for insulting comment

Page 12, Oct 21, 2010
NPP MPs want Kobby Acheampong
sacked for insulting comment

Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah

THE New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament (MPs) have called on the President to sack the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Mr Kobby Acheampong, over remarks by him which they deem as derogatory against residents of Kumasi and cocoa growing areas.
They said his attack on the General Secretary of the NPP, Mr Kwaku Owusu Afriyie (aka Sir John), on an Accra-based FM station during which he referred to him as “Kookooase Kuraseni from Kumasi”, that is, a villager from a cocoa area, had cast a slur on hardworking cocoa farmers across the country.
Again, they said his comment that the long period Mr Afriyie had stayed in Kumasi had affected his thought was not only an attack on the NPP General Secretary but rather the entire residents of Kumasi.
At a press conference in Parliament yesterday, the MP for Dormaa West, Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, stated that it was unfortunate that cocoa farmers who had toiled for the country over the years could be rewarded with such derogatory remarks from a deputy minister who was being paid from their sweat and toil.
He explained that cocoa farmers were spread across the Ashanti, Western, Brong Ahafo, Eastern and Volta regions, and referring to the NPP General Secretary as such “was a complete insult of cocoa farmers”.
“Let Mr Acheampong tell us where he comes from and where he was schooled”. “Is it not proceeds from sales of cocoa that was used to educate him,” Mr Agyeman-Manu asked and demanded answers from his accuser.
For his part, a former Mayor of Kumasi and MP for Asokwa, Mr Maxwell Kofi Jumah, said it was unfortunate that the deputy minister made such remarks.
He referred to Kumasi as a citadel of the country’s culture, adding that a lot of prominent Ghanaians, including a former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Kofi Annan, former First Lady, Mrs Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, and former President John Agyekum Kufuor were born and bred in Kumasi.
Mr Jumah therefore called on President Mills to redeem his image by disassociating himself from such comments by sacking Mr Acheampong to deter others from using such insults against a segment of the country.
The MP for Nsuta/Kwamang/Beposo, Mr Kwame Osei-Prempeh, said it was rather unfortunate that Mr Acheampong was still continuing with the foul language he used during the 2008 general election for which he was rewarded with his current position.