Kwame Owusu
Former Director-General of the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) and now Board Chairman of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Kwame Owusu is demanding an apology from Franklin Cudjoe, President of IMANI Africa for poking fun at him after his appointment to his current position.
Mr Kwame Owusu resigned as CEO of the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) after he was accused of superintending over questionable expenditure including spending a million cedis to renovate his official residence and installing 13 air-conditioners.
Though a probe into the allegations has been reportedly completed and yet to be made public, President Nana Akufo Addo proceeded to appoint Mr Kwame Owusu to the position of Board Chairman of the GRA.
His appointment was widely condemned by anti-corruption organisers and crusaders with a section of Ghanaians accusing the President of acting in bad fate.
President of Policy Think-Tank IMANI Africa Franklin Cudjoe took to Facebook and sarcastically wrote “Having been tasked with a new mandate; supervising the country’s revenue in the capacity of a board chairman, perhaps, supporting his course with air conditioners will be the best assistance Ghanaians can give to make his work easier. We need to support him with more air conditioners to enable him achieve all our revenue targets. If he fails eh…we will simply lock him up in the office with 39 air conditioners until he can’t move and speak his affected American accent”.
The tease has however not gone down well with Mr Kwame Owusu. He believes that the position and personality of Franklin Cudjoe should guide him in his public utterances and pronouncements on matters of this kind.
“A comedian who makes a comment like this is an acceptable norm. A young girl who is in joy FM trying to make name for herself, I can accept that. Araba Koomson can bash me because she wants to make name. But for somebody of such a repute, IMANI Ghana a Think-Tank. Then after 7 hours he then puts it out that it is sarcastic. So at what point would Ghanaians know that a man who happens to be a Think Tank President is either joking or being sarcastic or real? I think that the good people of Ghana including myself deserve an apology because we don’t know when to take him serious. I thought the press would have attacked him to resign because it is just in bad taste of a man of that stature to be able to go on especially talking about my affected American accent”.
Mr Kwame Owusu who was speaking on Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana and monitored by MyNewsGh.com added that the sarcastic comments were an insult to him and hence deserves an apology from the policy analyst.