The outgoing British High Commissioner to Ghana , Jon Benjamin, has said he has never “insulted” critics who have slammed him for commenting on local issues.<\/p>\n
Jon Benjamin, who is very active on social media especially Twitter, has come under intense criticism for commenting on issues many say are beyond his jurisdiction.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”6A0s8RQHjhB72m3ye6xrUO9MpiH4HFTz”]One of his tweets which appeared to be mocking former President John Mahama for his many projects ahead of the inauguration, did not sit well with some Ghanaians who took to social media to express their anger.<\/p>\n
Aside this development, there have been a number of criticisms by Ghanaian politicians who have argued that Jon Benjamin has no business meddling in local politics.<\/p>\n
But speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show<\/strong>, Mr. Benjamin made a strong case for commenting on these developments, saying \u201cthere is a way to go through a three-year posting without causing any controversy or ruffling any feathers, and that is to sit in your office, say nothing, do nothing and maybe hide under the desk metaphorically and what\u2019s the point in that?\u201d<\/p>\n He further explained that most of his tweets are mostly for persons seeking clarification on pertinent issues.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of the time, I am answering questions people put to me but what I don\u2019t do is to engage in personal insults and call people the sort of epithets that I get called and I think it is very sad when people descend to that level,” said Jon Benjamin.<\/p>\n According to him, most of his activities, which would largely be viewed as \u201ctraditional diplomacy\u201d were done behind the scenes.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone concentrates on the fact that I\u2019ve been active on social media, but what you see in public in its entirety is actually the smaller part of what we do. Most of what I do is still defined as traditional diplomacy, it\u2019s behind the scenes, it\u2019s not known, it is government to government negotiations, it is dealing with bilateral issues that come up\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019ve grown to love Ghana<\/strong><\/p>\n Reminiscing his stay in Ghana, Mr. Benjamin said:\u201dI think Ghana is a country I\u2019ve grown to love enormously. I\u2019m going to miss being here and observing what goes on here. I personally and the UK want nothing more than the very best possible future for Ghana.\u201d<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Marian Ansah\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
\nFollow @EfeAnsah<\/a>
\n