A group in the Northern region has rejected the apology by Deputy Agric Minister William Quaitoo after he made ethnocentric remarks about farmers in the north.
The deputy Minister, described the farmers who were demanding compensation for crops destroyed by the army worm as people who cannot be trusted and had intentions to defraud the government.
However, William Quaitoo apologized after he was heavily criticized by residents in the Northern Region.
But Spokesperson for the Dagbon Youth Association, Yakubu Ibrahim Mahmi, says the apology is not enough and must be rejected.
“Anybody can apologise because it touches the heart of an ethnic group especially the Dagbon because he mentions he has been with us for good 27 years, our tradition doesn’t teach us to disregard or disrespect a person not to talk about an ethnic group. If I were him by now I think I should have tendered in my resignation letter”.
Read the full statement below:
PRESS RELEASE
SACK DEPUTY MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE OR WE SHOW YOU NORTHERNERS ARE REALLY THIEVES AND DIFFICULT TO HANDLE — DEMOCRATIC YOUTH ALLIANCE (NORTHERN CHAPTER) 28/08/2017.
We, members of DEMOCRATIC YOUTH ALLIANCE (NORTHERN CHAPTER) write with a burdened heart to draw your (HE Nana Addo) attention to the most derogatory and naked insult hailed on us by one of your ‘men’ (Ministers) in person of Mr William Quaittoo (at this point, it’s difficult to address him as an Hon) some few days ago in an interview with Starr FM (an Accra-based radio station) with regards to the invasion and the subsequent destruction of our crops by the deadly army worm that has brought farmers on their knees across the country in recent times.
We have continuously been at the receiving end of a lot of diatribes vitriolic from your party – the NPP, some which sound as ‘any car/cargo you see carrying charcoal to Accra, is from the north’ ~ Madam Ursula Owusu, ‘….but for free education, all northerners would have been cattle herd men’ ~ Madam Ursula Owusu, among others. It’s now clear that the periodic diatribes are deliberate and well calculated to make us (northerners) appear and look inferior to other regions in the country.
Despite the vitriolic, we came out in our numbers and voted for the NPP as against our own son and brother HE John Dramani Mahama who, we can say with all sincerity that he has always been there for us, in the 2016 general election. Let’s be quick to add that, our massive endorsement of NPP should never be mistaken to be an endorsement or an enjoyment of the rather piecing insults your men have subjected us to but a deliberate move to put your juicy talking party to test as to enable us make an informed decision going forward because you (HE Nana Addo) told us to try you.
This insult by the Deputy Minister has opened our eyes in relation to why it took the government almost a month to come to our aid when we were hit by flood recently. We are now fully aware that the NPP government never trusted us when we were crying all over, assisted by our MPs calling for help from them. Government probably saw it as a ploy to dupe them.
That’s very sad and demeaning. We must point out now that, we were surprised when the Vice President, our own brother flew to the north only to assess and be sure our house were flooded. It was however disheartening to have heard from government that we should go and sleep with our families, friends and neighbours because they don’t have money to help us out. We also saw on national television our own brother (Dr Bawumia) flew to Sierra Leone within the shortest possible time with relieve items solicited from cooperate bodies and individuals. Isn’t it very interesting??
The insults and embarrassment suffered in the hands of NPP apparatchiks are just one too many. The fact that our elders have continuously appealed to us to remain calm doesn’t mean we can continue stomaching daily insults and verbal abuses from people who are supposed to know better.
For the deputy minister to say he stayed with us for 27years and thus knows us inside out cannot be underscored. Interestingly, he used 27 years to study how insincere, difficult and thieves we are.
An apology from the minister will only be seen as adding salt to our injury. That is because you cannot be sorry for saying something you studied and knew for the past 27years.
Surprisingly, in the midst of these humiliations, our Northern vice president seems not to care but rather chose to do propaganda when he got the opportunity to condemn the insult on us by William Agyapong Quaitoo.
It is now becoming clear that the religious balance we voted for seems not to favour us the Northerners with the continuous silence of our Northern brother.
We are therefore calling on Mr President to as a matter of urgency dismiss that man or he seizes to extend his deputy ministerial mandate to the northern sector because we won’t stop at anything to prove how difficult we are. We have stated our position, Mr President, but we know, today, you have the final say. You can decide to ignore our call and hopefully, we shall showcase our insincerity when the time comes.
Thanks.
Cc:
The President of the Republic of Ghana.
All media houses
All social media platforms
….Signed….
Hairat Yussif,
President (DYA – Northern chapter).
Christopher Akoto (Secretary, National)
Bismark Newton Haduvorsah (Communication Director)
