The Minister With An ‘Okro’ Mouth

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo must have had some good reasons for the appointments he made in his administration. While assembling his team, he certainly must have considered competence, experience and loyalty as his main requirements.

However, one thing he probably did not take a serious view of, was the public mannerism of his men, after appointment.

This aspect is essential because every single word his appointees spew could have consequences for his administration.

Of course, there may be times where one may slip in his or her delivery, but when the slip goes beyond an isolated incident, then it becomes worrying.

In the last couple of months, one appointee, whose gaffes have caught a lot of media attention, is the Energy Minister, Peter John Amewu.

On the two critical occasions this year that he had had to speak on serious issues, the youthful minister, in the view of THE NEW PUBLISHER, failed the maturity test.

Back in March, 2019, when one of the GRIDCo towers in the Tema enclave fell over, after it was noticed that some of its bolts had been deliberately removed, Amewu made a hasty conclusion on the matter , virtually embarrassing almost everyone, including his government.

Even before investigations started into the matter, he alleged that the incident was the handiwork of his political opponents. He said was ‘a clear political sabotage on the Akufo-Addo Administration’, but sadly, he has till today, failed to prove that that was actually the case.

Then just this month, Mr. Peter Amewu was once again in his element when he was asked to comment on the reasons behind the suspension of the Power Distribution Services (PDS) agreement.

When the issue broke, government spokesperson and Minister of Information, Hon. Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, said the agreement was being put on hold due to what he called ‘fundamental and material breaches’ detected in PDS’ obligations.

But before government could dispatch a team of investigators to Qatar and the US on a 30-day fact-finding mission, the Energy Minister started running his mouth, spewing contrary information.

He told the media that government was forced to suspend the agreement because it had seen an element of FRAUD in the deal.

In our view, his premature allusion to FRAUD by Amewu has thrown everything off gear and muddied the waters the more, As things stand now, there is a glaring state of limbo, and the Ghanaian tax-payer, whose future is central in the matter, does not know who to believe.

It appears Mr. Amewu is becoming too controversial these days, especial ever since he assumed office as Energy Minister some twelve months ago.

THE NEW PUBLISHER does not care a bit about whether the government is contradicting itself or not. In fact, as a media house, we do not rely on ministers to get to the truth in every development.

What we cannot stand, however, is this practice, where political appointees, who are paid to head sensitive sectors of the economy, are playing chess with the minds of the people.

The president must be concerned about this attitude.