Kwadwo Mpianin Commends Prez Mahama

Ex-Chief of Staff in the Kufuor administration, Kwadwo Mpianin, has commended the President, John Dramani Mahama, over his decision to relieve Deputy Communications Minister Victoria Hammah of her post, less than 24 hours, after an alleged tape purported to be her voice was leaked to the media. He argued in a radio interview last Friday that, the President could not have continued to maintain an appointee, who was clearly caught on tape planning to amass wealth through either legal or illegal means. He expressed shock that the failed Ablekuma West Member of Parliament (MP), had the intention to leave politics immediately she grabbed US1Million. Using his experience as a former senior government official, Mr. Mpianin questioned how Miss Hammah, was going to raise such funds in just four years, if indeed she was going to depend solely on her salary and allowances. He analyzed that the only two possible means through which the former Parliamentary aspirant could have raised the said US1Million, were that she was either going to engage in another job or she was going to steal from government. Mr. Mpianin said, such utterances did not only bring shame to the person involved, but the President and the entire government she served and so advised that the young Minister should have resigned the moment the tape was leaked, considering the content of it. He said her intention and utterances were shameful and as such brings nothing positive to the government, but disgrace. According to the one time perceived �powerful man� at the Castle, leaders and for that matter politicians needed to be wary about how they conduct themselves, especially so when communication today has become very sophisticated with gadgets all over to tap into conversations of people. Judging from the conversation, Mr Mpianin concluded that the one time television hostess was not prepared for the job to help the President execute his manifesto promises and so welcomed the news that she had been booted out of office. Mr. Mpianin who is described as one of the most successful Chiefs Of Staff, was speaking on an Accra based Neat FM, the station which first aired part of the 32 minutes conversation between Miss Hammah and a supposed friend on variety of issues bothering on the current government. His commendation comes on the heels of others by MPs and Bureau for Internal Affairs (BIA), an anti corruption agency for swiftly revoking the appointment of Ms Hammah. Mr. Mpianin also defended the position by Mr. Kufuor to keep vacant the position of his Minister of Transport, Dr Richard Wilfred Anane, who was reported to have misconducted himself and asked to step aside for investigation to be carried out by the Commission on Human Right and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) on the reliability of the said information. According to him, the ex-MP for Nyhiaso in the Ashanti Region, whose name had popped up in the leaked tape was a performer and so the President at the time did not see why he needed to appoint someone else when he could come back to take back his position. He maintained that Dr. Anane�s story was not peculiar, as he cited a similar incident that had happened elsewhere. On the portion of the tape where Miss Hammah alleged the involvement of Minister for Gender Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, on the role she may have played in the eight month long election petition, Mr. Mpianin said, he thinks the ex-Deputy Minister may have exaggerated what she did not even know, but stated that if indeed what she stated on the tape were true, then it was very damaging.