Ashaiman Youth Demand Unqualified Apology From I. C. Quaye

The Youth of Ashaiman in the Greater Accra Region have called for an unqualified apology from the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Sheik I. C. Quaye, for imputing that Ashaiman is the breeding grounds for mosquitoes in the country.

Speaking to The Ghanaian Lens in Ashaiman over the weekend, a spokesman for a section of the youth of Ashaiman, Mr. Gideon Akli, said “ it is really unfortunate that a Regional Minister who we expect would be at the forefront of our desire to uplift the image of Ashaiman from the false stereotype view of this place as a dirty and crime-prone area, should rather be the one reinforcing this falsehood at no less a place than the floor of Parliament.” “If anybody ought to know that that stereotype view of Ashaiman is false, it should be the Regional Minister, yet he was the very person who was standing on the floor of Parliament and making statements that only go to reinforce the false perceptions that people have of Ashaiman. We find it most regrettable and unfortunate that this has happened,” Mr. Akli lamented.

“Of course, there are mosquitoes everywhere in the country, and Ashaiman is no exception, but for the Regional Minister to single out Ashaiman, especially as he knows the wrong impression that people have of Ashaiman and how we are struggling to change that wrong perception that people have of Ashaiman totally sets whatever progress we have made in that direction back,” he complained. He continued, “the Regional Minister is aware of the numerous cleanup exercises that the people of Ashaiman have been engaging in to clean up our environment, so he should not have singled us out in such a manner. We believe that the Regional Minister owes us an unqualified apology.”

“We are not asking for the apology as a way of trying to ridicule the Regional Minister. It is our belief that the apology would go a long way to repair some of the unfortunate misimpression that his unguarded utterance is sure to have created with some people,” Mr. Akli explained.

“We have taken notice of the fact that the Regional Minister has said that his comment was meant as a joke. Be that as it may, it was a very expensive joke that has caused a lot of harm that is why we believe that he owes us an unqualified apology,” Mr. Akli reiterated.

Meanwhile, when this reporter reached the Member of Parliament for Ashaiman Constituency, Hon. Agbesi, for his comments he said, “the Regional Minister by his pronouncements has really depicted that he is not qualified to be in-charge of the region as well as a Minister when he tend to portray a section of his region in such a derogatory manner.”

“To me it was un-honourable on the part of the Minister to have referred to my constituency and me in particular as those responsible for the influx of mosquitoes in the greater Accra Region. I call on him through this medium to apologize to my constituents for the undeserving attack he has inflicted on their collective image,” Hon. Agbesi stated.

It would be recalled that, while answering questions on the floor of Parliament last week as to how far he has gone with his much-publicised war on mosquitoes, Sheikh I. C. Quaye said that “mosquitoes do not need my visa permission to come into the region”, but went on to single out the MP for Ashaiman as importing mosquitoes in his car from Ashaiman into Accra.

In an attempt at doing damage control, Sheik I. C. Quaye on Thursday 22nd February, 2007 told James Agyenim Boateng on Radio Gold’s Gold Paper Review programme that his reply to the question by the honourable MP for Ashaiman was meant to be a joke to amuse members of parliament and that he did not mean anything different.