A desperate attempt by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohammed Mumuni to vindicate President John Evans Atta Mills from his ‘dzi wofie asem’ comment on the BBC network yesterday hit a snafu.
Yesterday, Mr. Mumuni struggled to find a suitable explanation to President Mills’ comments which had sparked some discussions across the length and breadth of the country.
The president while answering a question on the Ivorian crisis had said he was guided by a Fante saying; ‘Dzi wo fie asem’, to wit mind your own business. He had premised the comment on the grounds that regional grouping ECOWAS, had among other resolves, planned a military intervention to oust Laurent Gbagbo from office if all other peaceful avenues failed to get him to relinquish power. The President, while saying he endorsed the ECOWAS decision, however said Ghana would also not be able to contribute soldiers should ECOWAS decide to carry through the military threat.
But speaking to the BBC’s David Amanor, the Foreign Affairs Minister who appeared to be defending his boss said when the president talked of minding one’s own business “he (Mills) really was talking about an African position. La Cote d’Ivoire’s situation is an African problem, it demands an African solution which is based on negotiation, it is based on mediation and peace-building. This is his general position on La Cote d’Ivoire.”
According to him, “The house actually means we are basically the same people. The boundary between Ghana and La Cote d’Ivoire is an artificial, colonial boundary separating ethnic groups, families, people who share the same ancestry, the same kinship, people who share the same languages, that is what it is between Ghana and La Cote d’Ivoire, there is absolutely no difference,” he added.
President Mills, he said, “identified the Ghanaian people with La Cote d’Ivoire. So in effect, it is like we are in the same house with La Cote d’Ivoire, the Fie (house) does not refer to Ghana, it refers to even La Cote d’Ivoire.”
This attempt to defend the President has however been described as laughable by some social commentators.Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammed Mumuni who last week accused the BBC of deliberately misrepresenting President J.E.A. Mills’ controversial ‘Dzi wo fie asem’ comments, reiterated his accusation, saying the media big player sought to cause public disaffection for the president.