Accra, July 25, GNA - The Office of the President has asked the National Security to get to the bottom of the claim by the Ghana Palaver, an Accra-based private newspaper, that President John Agyekum Kufuor had met with Service Commanders to instigate a state of emergency.

Mr. Andrew Awuni, Press Secretary to the President, denied the story as a complete lie and a total fabrication and requested the National Security to take up the matter since it bordered on the security and sovereignty of the state.

The Government, he said, had deliberately been ignoring the falsehood churned out by sections of the media to deceive the public but could not allow this particular fabrication to go without investigation. The lead story of the Palaver in its Friday, July 25 - Monday, July 28 edition, headlined, "General Odotoi to be Sacked" reads: "A plan to use the country's Armed Forces to cause confusion in the country to enable President Kufuor to declare a state of emergency in order to avert imminent defeat of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the December elections has been fiercely resisted by the Army Commander, Major General S.A. Odotei.

"As a result of his principled stand at a recent meeting attended by all the Service Commanders of the Ghana Armed Forces and President Kufuor, the Army Commander is to be retired prematurely and the Commander of the Northern Command of the Armed Forces, General Ayiku, is to be transferred from Kumasi to Accra soon, to take over from the disciplined Army Commander."

Mr Awuni wondered what game the Paper was up to, especially when it was a known fact that General Ayiku died last year.

This, he said, exposed the mischief and the single dishonest purpose of throwing dust into the eyes of the public to deceive them. The Press Secretary expressed President Kufuor's confidence in the Army Commander, who he described as a distinguished soldier, and said the President respected his contribution to the Armed Forces. He said, it was time respectable members of the Ghanaian media, the Media Commission and entire society rose and spoke against the despicable acts of lies engaged in by sections of the media. Mr Awuni said the situation where some media practitioners deliberately spread falsehood must not be allowed to continue as it was dangerous to the health of the society.