Ashanti Regional Minister 'incompetent, narrow-minded' - Muntaka Mubarak

Minority Chief Whip of Ghana’s Parliament, Hon. Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak has chided the Ashanti Regional Minister Hon. Simon Osei Mensah over the mishap which occured during the funeral rites of the late Gonjo Chief at Asawase in the Ashanti Region.

He described the Ashanti Regional Minister as a "poor communicator who is narrow-minded and lacks the managerial skills" to run the region.

Speaking on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, Hon. Muntaka said he is surprised to hear the Ashanti Regional Minister blame him and former President John Mahama for the near-fatal calamity which nearly happened at the funeral rite.

“I doubt whether the President has a checklist to know how the Regional Minister is running the place. He is not someone who can manage difficult situations...he does not know how to communicate properly; that is his problem. Even the 7 people who were killed in my constituency, check how he managed it; so poorly”, he chided.

He admonished the Ashanti Regional Minister to exercise patience in his dealings as he is working with humans.

What was meant to be a peaceful funeral service and an enstoolment of a new Gonja King for Ashanti in the Asawasi constituency of the Ashanti region almost turned bloody.

The cause of the misunderstanding is not yet known. But it took the presence of the heavy military presence at the place to calm both parties down.

Delving into the issue, Hon. Muntaka explained that the chaotic scene was not as a result of misunderstanding as to who should first address the crowd, but rather the failure on the part of the Regional Minister to control the crowd with the military, whiles also urging one of his boys to grab the microphone from him when he (Muntaka) was asking the crowd to calm down and listen to the Regional Minister.

“We decided not to talk because of the crowd but I think NDC boys thought the NPP didn’t allow me to speak due to the intelligence they picked that we won’t be allowed to talk. He is managing the Region as if he is running an NPP branch. If he says we run away from the crowd after the chaotic scene, then it clearly shows that he is very incompetent to manage the region,” he jabbed.

According to him, it took his and other NDC member's intervention to save the NPP boy from being killed; advising Hon. Simon Osei Mensah not to get involved in this kind of pettiness.

“If there is anybody to be blamed for this, it should be the Regional Minister because he did not put any measures in place to control the crowd...I want to believe that he wanted it to be chaotic and that explains why he didn’t bring in security to cordon off some strategic areas,” he accused.