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General News of Monday, 15 January 2018

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Ghanaians 'fire' Trump over 'shithole' comment

Ghanaians are outraged by the 'insensitive' comments made by US President Donald Trump play videoGhanaians are outraged by the 'insensitive' comments made by US President Donald Trump

The ‘shithole’ description of some African Countries by US President Donald Trump has attracted a huge backlash from citizens from several of these countries, many describing his comments as unsavory and racist.

Ghanaians haven’t spared him either, many have taken to several social media platforms to register their displeasure and disgust at the comments from one of the most powerful persons in the world.

Mr. Trump was reported to have made the unsavoury comments while complaining about immigrants coming to the US, during immigration negotiations on Thursday with lawmakers in the Oval Office.

The response from many Ghanaians when Ghanaweb took to the streets to capture the thoughts of Ghanaians on the issue depicts one of utmost outrage.

According to them, Trump’s statement was “racist” and demanded that the American President render an apology to the labelled countries.
“I think that man (referring to Donald Trump) needs a whipping in the a**. He needs to apologise for using such a derogatory comment. But I think it’s up to our African leaders to sit up and do something better for the African continent.”, a commuter said.

Another citizen who insisted on speaking off-camera, indicated that Trump’s utterance was unfair. Expressing her displeasure, she said “I think it’s his country that is a shithole and not this country because they come here to steal from us to make his country better. He should say sorry for saying that.”
The American leader has received international condemnations from many prominent figures including President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Add and former President John Dramani Mahama.

President Akufo-Addo, through his social media platforms stated that “The language of @DonaldTrump that the African continent, Haiti and El Salvador are “shithole countries” is extremely unfortunate. We are certainly not a “shithole country”. We will not accept such insults, even from a leader of a friendly country, no matter how powerful.”

Also adding his criticism to the comment by Donald Trump, ex-president John Mahama urged the African Union to take action following the developments.

“Africans and Haitians come from ‘shithole’ countries? Isn’t Trump demonstrating that he’s nothing but a racist and pursuing a policy of ‘Make America White Again’? I congratulate Botswana for showing the way. Our AU Presidents must respond strongly to this insult.” Mr. Mahama stated in a tweet,

Donald Trump, on Friday, however, denied making those comments. "The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used. What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made – a big setback for DACA!"