Dr Tony Aidoo, Head of the Evaluation and Oversight Unit at the Presidency, has questioned the temerity of the Member of Parliament for Asikuma Odobeng Brakwa, Paul Collins Appiah Ofori, to express reservations about his election as member of the AU Board on Corruption styling him as someone who lacks respect for himself.
“… I will never behave like you did…by public declare that my wife has gonorrhea; you see, wo nbu wo ho [you don’t respect yourself]… and you want to be recognised as a respectable person…,” an infuriated Dr. Tony Aidoo stated.
The anti-corruption crusader had dared to criticize the nomination and subsequent approval of Dr. Tony Aidoo to serve on the AU Board on Corruption describing it as a political one.
To him, the brash-talking NDC stalwart is largely deficient on issues pertaining to corruption and would have preferred someone else from the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) who has the know-how for that chosen field.
“… I don’t know who nominated him, and whoever nominated him didn’t know what he was doing… So I don’t think he is going to be of use to the nation or to the African organisation,” P.C. Appiah Ofori said of Dr Tony Aidoo’s appointment in an interview on Adom FM’s Dwa So Nsem morning show.
But the former Deputy Defence Minister in the erstwhile Rawlings regime who was recently elected member of the 11-member African Union (AU) Advisory Board on Corruption, after 73 per cent of votes cast went to his favour, challenged the NPP MP to spell out his achievements in the fight against corruption in Ghana.
In a rather blistering rebuttal on the same platform, Dr. Tony Aidoo angrily inquired if his colleague on the other side of the political divide has been made an appointing authority on issues relating to the sub-region. Clearly riled, Dr. Aidoo felt the outspoken MP was engaging in triviality and offered to relinquish his new position and his office at the presidency for the “loud-mouthed talker” if he (Appiah-Ofori) believed he could do a better job than him (Tony).
“Are you the authority on ECOWAS appointments? This is petty-mindedness, what is wrong with you people, what is wrong with you people in the NPP?……who are you? Such a loud-mouthed talker… I have given you the opportunity to come for the job. Come and take it…,” he fumed.
The Asikuma Odobeng Brakwa MP had earlier posited that the former University of Cape Coast lecturer lacked the requisite knowledge about what corruption entails and how to eradicate it and wondered what experience Dr. Tony Aidoo will bring on board at the international level.
“If you nominate a person like this for such a position, what experience would he bring on board at the international level,” he said in twi. (Enti onipa a otse sayi wode saa position yi ma no na oko international level a experience ben na ofi ne man mu ha a ode ko join won na wode aye adwuma?)