The Minority in Parliament on Wednesday called on Mr Kobby Acheampong, Deputy Minister of Tourism, to apologise for calling Mr. Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, General Secretary, New Patriotic Party(NPP), popularly known as Sir John, " Cocoase Kroaseni " to wit a villager.
Mr Kwaku Agyemang Manu, Member for Dormaa West, addressing a press conference said the Minority demands that Mr Achempong apologizes within three days or they would call for his resignation because it was an insult defiled all people from cocoa growing areas in Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Central and some parts of Volta region.
He said Mr Acheampong insulted Sir John by saying that his long stay in Kumasi has affected his way of thinking and his commentary on relevant national issues and described Sir John as an ignoramus and admonished him to broaden his horizon in order to make relevant contributions to national discourse.
This was in reaction to a Citi News interview on Tuesday, October 19, where Sir John said President Mills does not deserve the Grade B rating given him. According to him, the rating is a contradiction as per the President's performance in his last eighteen months in office.
The members played the tape recording to the hearing of the press which goes as follows: "Sir John reminds me of a typical 'cocoase Kroaseni', (villager), I mean he stayed in Kumasi too long, he is in Accra now, and he should broaden his horizon. Clearly the way he talks is of someone who is ignorant. He is talking about the fact we don't know the Foreign Minister so there is no Foreign Policy, I mean what is the correlation, this is a typical ignoramus talking.how can the NDC be behind this, you know this man I told him that whenever he comes from Kumasi he should take a different touch or else he would be lost and now he is telling us he is lost.he should shed that image and look at things from a broader perspective".
It was an insult to all people living in cocoa growing areas adding that Mr Acheampong should know that it was the votes of those in the cocoa growing area that made him a Minister.
He called on the Deputy Minister to tell them how a Kroaseni behaves and where he comes from, the school he attended and the university from which he graduated adding that it was the sacrifice cocoa farmer that made to reach where he is.
Mr Maxwell Kofi Jumah, Member for Asokwa, expressed his disappointment at the attack on the people of Kumasi and its environs, saying, "I'm very sad for all the people some are not even Ghanaians".
He said President Atta Mills should disassociate himself from the remarks if he knows Mr Kobby was not speaking for him.
Mr Jumah said it was a culture of the National Democratic Congress to insult just to be recognized adding, he did not attack Sir John alone but all the people who hail from those areas.