Krobo Chiefs Defend Finance Minister

Three divisional chiefs in the Yilo and Manya Krobo Traditional areas have registered their displeasure at the utterances of Mr Allotey-Jacobs, an NDC party communicator in the Central Region, and Alhaji Bature, also of the NDC, that President John Dramani Mahama should sack the Finance and Economic Planning Minister, Mr Seth Terkper, for non-performance.

The three are the Chief of Plau at Somanya in the Yilo Krobo Traditional areas, Nene Tetteh Agbleze III; Okpatokpla Nene Sasraku IV, divisional Chief of Manya Krobo traditional Area, and Setse Odehebi Keklebesi Apana, Stool father of Okper Adumam Royal Clan of the Yilo Krobo traditional Area, acting on behalf of the chiefs and people of Yilo and Manya Krobo Traditional areas.

According to a press statement signed by Nene Agbleze III, Nene Sasraku IV, and Nene Apana, on Tuesday, March 28, and Wednesday, March 29, 2014, Adom FM, Citi FM and Peace FM aired news items attributed to Mr Allotey-Jacobs and Alhaji Bature, for having called on the President to sack the Finance Minister, with the excuse that he was not capable of handling the Ghanaian economy.

The same news item appeared in the Daily Guide newspaper on Friday, May 2, 2014.

The statement from the traditional rulers described Mr Terkper, an illustrious son of Kroboland, as very hard-working, obedient and unassuming and therefore described the statement from the two gentlemen as destructive and inflammable.

The statement further said the two men’s description of Mr Terkper as the Biblical Judas of the NDC party was grossly improper and a calculated attempt by Mr Allotey-Jacobs and some members of the NDC to destroy the transparent work of the minister, his good name and his hard-earned reputation and the three chiefs demanded an immediate retraction of their destructive words.

“We, the chiefs and people of the Krobo area wish to inform Ghanaians, as well as politicians, that the Finance Minister, Mr Tekper, our illustrious son, is not the cause of the current economic hardship facing the country and it is high time Ghanaians stopped attributing the current situation to him,” the group emphasised.

According to the statement, the finance minister was only acting as an auto mechanic making efforts to repair a faulty vehicle manufactured by someone.

It explained that the economy of the country was in that poor state before Mr Terkper inherited it and he was rather making corrections for its improvement.

“We, the chiefs and people of the Krobo area, therefore, wish to state categorically that, our son, Mr Terkper, is not the Judas of the NDC party and the people of Ghana but rather he is a saviour and he must be exonerated from the current economic hardship,” the statement concluded.