The embattled Ghanaian High Commissioner to South Africa, George Ayisi Boateng, has said he still stands by his pledge to prioritize members of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its tertiary education wing, Tertiary Students’ Confederacy Network (TESCON) in his dealings with Ghanaians as a High Commissioner.
In justifying his comment, he gave the analogy of how a husband cannot overlook his wife and children’s welfare to cater for outsiders, insisting they must be the first priority.
He thus insisted that he finds nothing wrong with his open declaration to prioritize NPP members because he believes they are “more Ghanaian than others.”
Speaking on Kumasi-based Abusua FM on Tuesday, Mr. Ayisi Boateng said he still stands by his words despite the backlash.
“I didn’t speak evil at all… When you have a large family but you first make your wife and children eat first before others, what is wrong with that? I am not divisive. E.T Mensah is my senior colleague, when he came to South Africa, find out what I did for him. I have not said anything bad, I stand by my words,” he said.
While addressing some party youth at the Kumasi Technical University over the weekend, Mr. Ayisi Boateng said, “this government is doing its best to create job opportunities and me for instance, I told my people over there [that], it is because of NPP that I’m here, so the NPP man is my priority. I told them when NDC was in power it was Kwesi Ahwoi who was there, now we are in power, so Ayisi-Boateng is here with you. My topmost priority is the problems of an NPP person before any other Ghanaian, take it or leave it.”
“Indeed I’m not boasting, but I’ve started meeting the NPP groups. Every weekend I meet some group members and I tell you if I had my way, every job opportunity that will come will go to a TESCON member before any other person. And I know my colleague appointees also have the same feeling except that because of IMF we cannot do anything now,” he added
His comment, which has not gone down well with some members of the public have seen many calling for his head.
The Minority spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has also called on President Akufo-Addo to immediately terminate his appointment as High Commissioner, since his comment is divisive and reprehensible.
But Mr. Ayisi Boateng has said he is unperturbed. Whilst attempting to deny making the statement, he said he stands by it.
Source:citifmonline.com