Osafo Maafo tape saga: Former Deputy AG lashes out at persons 'fanning tribal tensions'

Kwame Osei-Prempeh, a Deputy Attorney General under the John Kufuor Administration, has condemned persons, who according to him are "fanning tribal and ethnic tensions" in the wake of the leaked Osafo Maafo tape.

The leaked tape is alleged to contain the voice of former Finance Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo, making remarks some say are tribal and ethnocentric.

Mr Osafo-Maafo has said the leaked tape has been doctored.

However, Mr Osei-Prempeh wrote a lengthy post on his Facebook page condemning persons who according to him are only seeking to make political gains out the situation.

According to him, that holds the potential to plunge the country into chaos.

Read the entire post below:
Those who think they stand to gain political advantage by playing the ethnic card need to do serious rethinking because they cannot always rely on that.

When it suits them they make references to Rwanda ,Kenya and other places where ethnicity has led to massive bloodshed, loss of precious lives and property.

The sad thing is that in these places almost all those who lost their lives and property or became refugees were not those who sought to take advantage of the dangerous ethnic game they played but the poor and vulnerable mostly illiterate ordinary people sitting 'their somewhere' as we say.

This country was built on solid grounds as one people . My akonta  - brother in law - General Kutu Acheampong always stressed "one nation, one people ,one destiny" which he promoted.

Long before him Dr Kwame Nkrumah has promoted national unity and as have been told copiously his boarding school system brought people from various parts of the country together and after five or seven years of staying together they found themselves first as Ghanaians and this is how Ghana moved on until evil times fell on this country. In 1979 Ghanaians did something which a writer in the News Week magazine commended highly and that was the election of Dr Limann as president .

The writer said Ghana was perhaps the only country where a person whose tribe formed less than 1% of the population could be elected president. Yes that was it. In fact it is worth mentioning that the strongest opposition to my akonta Kutu was from Ashanti where he came from.

Ghanaians were liberated and let me say that even now the generality of Ghanaians are not tribal or ethnic concious and move freely as one people except the deviant nation-wrecking-thieves who look at their selfish interests and harp on the ethnic emotions of people especially if that will go against the NPP, Asantes and Akans in general .

It's painful and sometimes annoying because for some of us we are Ghanaians and treat all as equals.If i may digress a little at 6th form my best friends were Martin Dassah and Awudu both from then Upper east .

At the university my friends included Jiagge ,Lucas Banini, Hon Asaga etc and for most of them we hve kept the friendship till now. And even now the people around me include Apobile from Bolga who I am sponsoring at a private university, Amadu , a Kokomba I picked from a village sent to school and found him  a job; Dakora who I sponsored and is now a graduate teacher; Christian is from Tsito. When he lost his job I gave him a flat to live in at Kumasi, opened a business and put him in charge.

 I can write volumes just to demonstrate how some of us are pissed off when perverts try to play the ethnic card. The most annoying thing is if someone from any part of the country says something which is clearly ethnocentric its fine but if the person is an Akan or belongs to NPP hey presto hell breaks loose and people fail to give the victim space to explain himself like what is happening to the respected Hon Osafo Maafo for something he is alleged to have said behind closed doors to his party people .

It should be clear to all that whoever recorded him is mischievous and diabolical and we should frown on that. We all say many things in private conversations and behind closed doors. Between what Hon Osafo Maafo is alleged to have said and President Mahama's "as for Ashantis" gaffe which is more ethnocentric? but those who are calling for his head found that acceptable.

This country is better off without the fanning of tribal and ethnic tensions and I believe our media should be more responsible in handling these things especially if the issue comes from dubious tapes recorded from private conversations .

 In all things the national interest must be supreme and that must concern every patriotic journalist