Public calls are mounting for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to dismiss the Upper East Regional Minister, Stephen Yakubu, for making ethnocentric comments against Ghanaians of northern descent.
The regional minister is heard in a video telling the media inside his office that northerners are “very greedy” and “don’t tell the truth”.
“You see, northerners are people that when you are dealing with them you have to be very, very careful. Because of the poverty level, the people are very, very greedy people, you know.
“And they don’t tell the truth. They don’t. So, all the time, you have to be very careful to listen to them and find out the information because most of the things that they would say is wrong,” the regional minister stated during an interview.
He granted the interview and made the comments when the media sought his side of the story after some small-scale miners in the Upper East Region complained publicly that he had mishandled some moneys handed to him. The moneys were handed to him by Earl International Group Ghana Gold Limited, a Chinese mining company previously known as Shaanxi Mining Company Limited, for onward delivery to the small-scale miners.
Addressing journalists at a news conference in Bolgatanga, capital of the Upper East Region, the Northern Forum for Peace and Development (NOFPED), a pressure group, slammed the regional minister for making such a comment.
“In the light of all this, we think his statement is unnecessary, it is offensive, it is demeaning and above all it is terrible. We know of his interest to stage a comeback as a Member of Parliament (MP). Failing to apologise will see us work against him and against his government.
“We are going to stage street protests in his constituency (Binduri), Bolgatanga, Tamale, Wa, Nalerigu and Damango and ask His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to relieve him of his post,” the group said in a statement read by its spokesperson, Christopher K. Asima.
A governance expert, Dr. Frederick Oduro, has added his voice to the public calls for the immediate dismissal of the regional minister.
“If it is proven that he said it then he does not have any moral authority or right to remain in office. Fact of the matter is that if you even have such thought privately then you shouldn’t take up public office. It is so unfair and denigrating to any group of people if anybody should look down upon them or stereotype them. It is not accepted by any international convention; it is not accepted by the constitution or any of our laws.
“So if you hold any important position like that of a Regional Minister you must show respect to all manner of people in the country and indeed beyond the country. It is a human right issue and if you can think that some people can be looked down upon, that you can stereotype some people, then you don’t have any right to even hold a public office,” he said.
The governance expert also underscored the need for politicians who made such comments to be punished to deter a similar occurrence in the future.
“If you have politicians perpetrating some of these views, when we have people pitching one group against the other, these do not auger well for our nationhood. We shouldn’t encourage it and often times we fail to punish politicians who do that. Even people seeking for office when they go to one part of the country will always seek to tell them that oh I am from this area so you are better off with me.
“Let individuals come on their own merit, let us see people for who they are and let us disabuse our minds about other tribes, it doesn’t help us. Most often than not some of these comments have no factual basis but it’s just stereotyping just to look down on one group so we should stop that, it is good for us,” he stated
