The former Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, under the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration, Nii Armah Ashitey has debunked rumours purporting that he is dead.

Nii Ashitey was mistaken for the former Greater Accra Regional Minister under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration, Mr Ishmael Ashitey who died last week.

In a statement issued and copied to the Ghanaian Times in Accra yesterday, Mr Armah Ashitey said “we are sorry to hear the trending news of the passing of Ishmael Ashitey; our sincere condolence to his family. However, as sad as the news of his passing may be, there seem to be some confusion and clear case of mistaken identity that requires urgent attention.

“We wish to state categorically that, Nii Armah Ashitey is alive, hearty and healthy. The late Ishmael Ashitey and Nii Armah Ashitey had a few things in common which may have caused the mistaken identity.”

The statement said while Nii Armah Ashitey is a trade unionist and lawyer and hails from Teshie and Osu, the late Ishmael Ashitey was a mechanical engineer and hailed only from Teshie.

Besides both were former ministers of state, former members of Ghana’s parliament and former regional ministers but belonged to different political parties.

Nii Armah Ashitey is a member of the NDC party, and once the Chief Executive for the Tema Municipal Assembly for eight years.

He was also the Member of Parliament (MP)for Klottey Korle, the Greater Accra Regional Minister and a Minister for Employment and Labour Relations at some points in time.

The late Ishmael, on the other hand, was a former Greater Accra chairman of the NPP and a former MP for Tema East.

He was also a former Deputy Minister for Fisheries and former Minister for the Greater Accra Region.

The statement said “these similarities and more we believe are the basis of this mistaken identity.Once again, we wish to bring to the attention of the general public that Nii Armah Ashiteyis alive and kicking.”

It, therefore, urged the public to disregard the rumour.