Ga Mantse Has Insulted Mills� Intelligence�Could Be Cited For Contempt Of...� Victor Smith

Ghana�s new envoy to the Czech Republic and former spokesperson to ex-President Rawlings, Mr. Victor Smith, says the Ga Mantse, Nii Tackie Tawiah III, is liable to be cited for �contempt of the throne� for heaping insults at the �big chief of our country,� and must immediately render an unqualified apology to President Mills. Mr. Smith described the Ga-Mantse�s statement as inappropriate and believes he should have been circumspect in his choice of words in addressing the First Gentleman of the land. �I think the language, in which he spoke on the issues he raised, directing them at the president was inappropriate. I think it was more confrontational than anything and I think as a chief I would not have expected that he would do a thing like this to the �big chief� of our country. If you went to his palace and did not conduct yourself properly, you�d be in contempt of his throne...I think he owes the president an apology,� he stated. Speaking in an interview on Citi FM�s Breakfast Show, the former Special aide to Ex-President Rawlings was of the view that the Ga Mantse had indirectly insulted the President�s intelligence with his comments. ��he is now trying to take issues with our President in the public domain the way he did and making negative references to the president...if you say to somebody in that high office that �I am not a fool�, you have insulted the person�s intelligence. So I think he should make an apology very quickly and we should have these matters looked into and resolved,� he stated. According to Mr. Smith, the Ga Mantse should have channeled his grievances through the Chieftaincy Ministry or the National House of Chiefs, instead of publicly taking on the Law Professor. Nii Tackie Tawiah III, in an interview with PEACEFM on Friday, February 26, openly lashed out at President Mills for deliberately sidelining him and other Ga Chiefs by refusing to invite them to state functions since he took office in 2009, and launched a rather vile attack on the President and some of his advisors, labeling them as "standard seven boys." The Ga Mantse also accused President Mills� of embarking on a deliberate ploy to place some Ga traditions on its reduced priority list since coming to power, and issued a rather stern note of caution asking the President not to be deluded into thinking that he can change anything that has to do with the people of the Ga state. Nii Tackie Tawiah III virtually derided and poured invectives on President Mills� advisors when he labeled them as �Standard Seven Boys� But government says until all the legal issues surrounding Nii Tackie Tawiah�s chieftaincy are cleared and his kingship gazetted, they (government) cannot recognize him.