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Private Legal practitioner, Yaw Oppong has counselled Sports Minister, Mahama Ayariga not to further heighten the frustrations citizens are experiencing with his rude posturing towards the media.

He remarked that Ghanaians are currently enduring harsh socio-economic conditions therefore; the least the Minister can do is to be polite and render accounts on how the nation’s money was spent at the AFCON.

“People are already fed up – don’t heighten it or enhance it by talking this way. Let people not feel that they are not accountable to us…already, there is so much despondency in the system…these may not be ordinary times, we are in an emergency and this government has referred to this dumsor situation as an energy crisis,” he said. 

Mahama Ayariga has been engaged in war of words with the media after pressure was mounted on him to give a detailed account of the amount government spent during the just ended African Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament in Equatorial Guinea.

Although the Minister appeared before Parliament to give an account of the amount government allocated for the tournament, he failed to give further details on how much was exactly spent.

A further probe by the media angered the Minister who described some of the questions as ‘useless’.

Defending his stance on the matter, Mahama Ayariga stated that it is high time someone stood up against the media in Ghana, insisting that he has done no wrong.

But speaking on Citi FM’s news analysis programme, The Big Issue, Lawyer Oppong advised the Minister saying, “power is virtually taking him from one level that we all know him to a different level which is not good for him.”

He clarified that Ghanaians did not vote for any Minister, hence, Mr. Ayariga is a subordinate to the President and “his acts are the acts of the President and so he cannot put out this kind of posture as if there is no need for accountability at all.”

“My money is maintaining you,” he fumed, adding that, “…it is that which is paying you for you to perform your functions for us. In short, you are a servant and you should hold yourself as a servant only…we are the masters and if you don’t see yourself that way and you put up a posture that bothers on some exhibition of rude misconduct, it is very offensive.”

Lawyer Oppong further advised the Sports Minister that “whatever you do, ask yourself – how will Allah see it? Will Allah approve that I should be this rude to the very people whom I’m to serve?”

He also dared Ayariga to maintain his rude posturing towards the media in 2016 saying, “I want Mr. Ayariga to maintain this same posture up to the end of 2016.”

“From January next year, ask these Ministers what everybody will agree to be a stupid question – they will carefully answer you and they will even congratulate you for asking them that question. Mark it!”