Minister wasn’t disrespectful with whining comment – Diaspora boss

10:40 - 12 July 2017

Deputy Trade Minister Robert Ahomka-Lindsay

The Director of Diaspora Relations at the Presidency, Kwesi Ababio said the Deputy Minister’s remarks were not meant to irritate anybody present.

The Director of Diaspora Relations at the Presidency, Kwesi Ababio has said that the deputy Trade Minister was not disrespectful when he asked Ghanaians in the diaspora to stop whining about conditions in the country.

Speaking on Accra-based Starr FM, Ababio said the Deputy Minister’s remarks were not meant to irritate anybody present.

“…That is how we engage each other. It was nothing meant to antagonise anybody [or] disrespect anybody.”

According to him, the heated exchange between the Deputy Minister and the participants was a friendly one.

Deputy Trade Minister Robert Ahomka-Lindsay speaking an event organised by the diaspora community in Accra said “nobody likes whiners, people that spend all the time whining really get on people’s nerves. So, stop whining; stop saying this doesn’t work, that doesn’t work; please, we know it doesn’t work so stop whining all the time saying it doesn’t work. If it worked, you probably won’t be sitting there.”

His comments have been met with some unhappy reactions from some Ghanaians in the diaspora.

This is said to have led to some uneasy friction during the event.