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10.10.2008 Regional News

Stop The Accusations - Prez Tells Asante Akyem Residents

10.10.2008 LISTEN
By Samuel Amoako - newtimesonline.com

PRESIDENT  J. A. Kufuor yesterday advised the people of the Asante Akim North Constituency to bury their differences and collectively find somebody to replace the late Finance Minister Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu in Parliament.

He also advised them to stop the accusations and counter accusations of who killed the Minister.

The President said Mr Baah-Wiredu was a fine gentleman who served the people of Asante Akim and  Ghana as a whole with distinction, and  his death should not generate any confusion in the area.

President Kufuor gave the advice when the Omanhene of the Agogo Traditional Area, Nana  Akuoko Sarpong, led a delegation to the Castle to formally inform him of the death of the late Finance Minister.

Mr  Baah-Wiredu who died in a South African hospital on September  24 at the age of 56 will be buried on Saturday, November 8 at his hometown, Agogo.

The burial will be preceded with a state funeral at the forecourt of the State House on November 6.

President Kufuor said the bitter rancour and acrimony that had characterised the process for the selection of a successor to the late Finance  Minister in Parliament was unnecessary and should be done away with.

If  possible, he suggested, the whole Agogo and its environs should decide on a suitable candidate by acclamation adding that “I believe the party will accept it”.

He described Mr Baah-Wiredu as a devoted man who was at the forefront in the fight against poverty in the country.

“He has been a hardworking Minister since my assumption of office as President and his work has been recognised worldwide”, he said and added:  “Ghana cannot thank him for what he has done”.

Though the demise of the late Finance Minister was primarily, a loss to the people of Asante Akim, he said, the whole nation had been affected greatly because of his contribution to the development of Ghana.

President Kufuor therefore stressed the need for the people to stop pointing accusing fingers at each other and give him a befitting burial for the services he had rendered

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