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Beleaguered Deputy Minister of Information, Mohammed Ahmed Baba Jamal�s attempt to downplay his infamous order to Information Services Department (ISD) staff to embellish their stories, in order to make the government look good in the eyes of the public, has backfired. He released a statement yesterday admitting he once made such comments during a nationwide tour but said it was �a harmless joke�. However, Baba Jamal, who once declared Jihad on Akwatia over a parliamentary seat, could not be taken serious on the explanation of the joke since on the same tape recording, he was heard loud threatening to sack workers of the ISD if they failed to project the government in good light, no matter the circumstance. A copy of the recording, which is in the possession of Daily Guide, captured Jamal saying the core duty of the workers was to make government look good at all cost, even if it meant peddling falsehood. To Baba Jamal, NDC must stay in power by hook or by crook, and he would do everything including dismissing innocent workers to achieve the diabolic agenda. �Yours is to make government look good, whatever the circumstance. If the government buys sheep and gives it as a gift, you are free to say it is a cow. You are free to say that. �If the colour of the sheep is black, you can say it was a white colourful cow. Why do you think that we employ commentators,� he quizzed rhetorically, to the amusement of the workers who were heard giggling.In his press release, Baba Jamal said the Ministry of Information had �absolutely no policy and strategy to use the ISD or any of its agencies to embellish or put out untruths as it is being accused.� Baba Jamal emphasized that a recent statement he made during an interaction with staff of the ISD, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives and the media, was �a harmless joke.� Mr. Jamal said that was why he and his audience could be heard �having a hearty laugh when he made the statement�. He claimed that �the essence of my statement was rather a call for the ethics and the mission of the ISD, which is to disseminate government information and collect feedback from the people to be respected and that those who did not do that would be sanctioned.� Mr. Jamal said he was �not surprised that a strange renewed interest has been given to this particular statement made over a month ago so my accusers would still find something negative to throw at me, seeing that their recent concocted tape and fabricated tale of bribery involving me dishing out NYEP cash to journalists through non-existent bank accounts had collapsed.� Mr. Jamal said �Perhaps the joke was inappropriate� but justified it with a Ghanaian Chronicle issue of Thursday June 26, 2008 in which the paper quoted then Minister of Information Asamoah Boateng of urging ISD staff to help explain government policies to the public.