The Director of Diaspora Relations at the Presidency, Kwesi Ababio has downplayed comments by the deputy Trade Minister claiming that Ghanaians in the diaspora excessively whine about conditions in the country.

Robert Ahomka-Lindsay speaking an event organized by the diaspora community in Accra said “nobody likes whiners, people that spend all the time whining really get on people’s nerves.

So, stop whining; stop saying this doesn’t work, that doesn’t work; please, we know it doesn’t work so stop whining all the time saying it doesn’t work. If it worked, you probably won’t be sitting there.”

The comments by the deputy minister was strenuously rejected by the community, leading to uneasy friction during the event.

But commenting on the development Wednesday July 12, 2017, on Morning Starr, Mr. Ababio urged the public not to focus on the comment made by the deputy Minister and the negative reactions that greeted it from patrons of the summit.

“…That is how we engage each other. It was nothing meant to antagonize anybody [or] disrespect anybody,” he told Morning Starr sit-in host, Kwaku Obeng Adjei.

According to him, the heated exchange between the deputy Minister and the participants was a friendly one.