Nii Ayaafio Tetteh I with Prez Akufo- Addo
Acting Director of Communications for New Patriotic Party (NPP), Yaw Adomako Baafi must apologise for regrettable comments he made against NPP founding member Dr Kwame Amoako Tuffour, President of the Ga Dangme Concerned Youth Group (GDCYG), Nii Ayaafio Tetteh I has said.
Nii Ayaafio Tetteh I has said in an interview that Dr Tuffour has been a backbone in supporting Ga Dangme activities even though he is not from the area. Additionally, the NPP stalwart has been condemned wrongfully by Baafi hence the request for an apology.
His comments come in the wake of remarks by Baafi on Oman FM’s Boiling Point where the NPP Communications Director expressed disappointment in Dr Tuffuor.
He alleged that Dr Tuffour had made comments to the effect that the free Senior High School (SHS) is faced with challenges and the earlier government addressed the lapses the better.
He was speaking based on a news item published on some portals with the headline indicating that Dr Tuffour wept after visiting free SHS students.
Baafi was upset that the supposed statements are now being used by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) against government and added that Dr Tuffour has disgraced the NPP by washing their dirty linen in public.
However, in a statement to clarify the development, Dr Tuffour said the news item carried against him was “false and malicious” as he has “not visited any SHS in the last five or so years. I had no business there. Therefore the reference of ‘licking the egg’ and ‘the plate’ have no linkage with SHS”.
He explained that he had visited a primary school several years ago “where I saw a small girl having lunch (rice, stew and one boiled egg). I had gone to the school to monitor the programme as part of the Ghana School Feeding Programme to evaluate its successes and challenges. The girl ate her rice, licked the plate, put the egg in her mouth, licked the sauce, and then put the egg in her pocket”.
He continued: “I walked to the girl and asked her, ‘why did you not eat your egg?’, ‘that’s for dinner’, she replied. I stood there for a few seconds and my eyes were filled with tears, thinking how hungry children can get. This is the story about tears. It is about the Ghana School Feeding Programme and not the Free SHS. This event took place over ten years ago and not this year as has been attributed to me.
“You see why our communicators have to be careful. I treasure the NPP and will not attempt to wash our dirty linen in public. I hope the young man (Lawyer Adomako Barfi) will learn a new lesson in life to verify the truth before you send your founding fathers to the cleaners, because NDC is at it again with their lies and propaganda,” he pointed out.
For Nii Ayaafio Tetteh I, Mr Baafi erred by rushing to condemn Dr Tuffour without verification of whatever he had read or heard.
“He is making a very big mistake by saying Dr Tuffour is rather washing the dirty linen of the NPP in public. His comments against Dr Tuffour, a founding member of the NPP, were unfortunate and he should find a way to apologize. I have a lot of respect for him and I will urge him to reconcile because he has not been fair to the elderly man. He should have made contact with Dr Tuffour to verify whatever he may have read or heard before going public to condemn the man,” he stressed.