{"id":336285,"date":"2017-07-13T17:00:23","date_gmt":"2017-07-13T17:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=336285"},"modified":"2017-07-13T17:00:23","modified_gmt":"2017-07-13T17:00:23","slug":"my-comments-werent-meant-to-offend-ahomka-lindsay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/07\/my-comments-werent-meant-to-offend-ahomka-lindsay\/","title":{"rendered":"My comments weren’t meant to offend – Ahomka-Lindsay"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Robert Ahomka-Lindsay, has insisted that recent comments\u00a0attributed to him about diasporans were not meant to offend anyone.<\/p>\n

Mr. Ahomka-Lindsay’s speech at the Ghana Diaspora meeting in Accra, garnered lots of attention after he appeared to show displeasure at diasporans\u00a0who ‘whined’ about everything they felt was not going well in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody likes whiners, people that spend all the time whining\u00a0really get on people\u2019s nerves so stop whining,\u201d the deputy Minister is quoted as having said.<\/p>\n

Responding to the public backlash which followed the address, the Deputy Minister stated that the comments he made were as a result of his personal experience and was in no way an attack on diasporans.<\/p>\n

“None of my comments\u00a0were\u00a0meant to cast aspersions. They were an expression of my personal experience,” the statement said.<\/p>\n

“I wish to assure the people of Ghana and all those who have been offended by my comments that I did not in any way intend to sound offensive in my presentation.”<\/p>\n

Find below, the full statement by\u00a0\u00a0Robert Ahomka-Lindsay:<\/strong><\/p>\n

13th July 2017<\/p>\n

STATEMENT ON MY SPEECH ON DIASPORA MEETING\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I refer to recent discussions on a 2 to 3-minute clip from my 14-minute speech given at the Ghana Diaspora meeting in Accra. The clip is a complete misrepresentation of the speech and taken completely out of context.<\/p>\n

I was asked to give my candid opinion on my experience as a Diaspora returnee and how I would advise others who intend to make a similar journey. My speech was in 5 parts:
\n1. Your approach to trying to get results in Ghana
\n2. What you should expect when you make the move to Ghana
\n3. The opportunities available for you in Ghana
\n4. The rewards for perseverance
\n5. The next steps<\/p>\n

The clip being shown referred to section 1 of the speech. Listening to it independent of the other three sections gives a completely different meaning to the speech I would implore all that want to get a true picture of my speech to look at it on\u00a0YouTube.<\/p>\n

None of my comments were meant to cast aspersions. They were an expression of my personal experience. I wish to assure the people of Ghana and all those who have been offended by my comments that I did not in any way intend to sound offensive in my presentation. I hold all Ghanaians in the greatest respect and would not in any way do or say anything that would impugn their integrity.<\/p>\n

Robert Ahomka-Lindsay.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

By: Edwin Kwakofi\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Robert Ahomka-Lindsay, has insisted that recent comments\u00a0attributed to him about diasporans were not meant to offend anyone. Mr. Ahomka-Lindsay’s speech at the Ghana Diaspora meeting in Accra, garnered lots of attention after he appeared to show displeasure at diasporans\u00a0who ‘whined’ about everything they felt was not going well […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[9250,3,9251],"yoast_head":"\nMy comments weren't meant to offend - Ahomka-Lindsay - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/07\/my-comments-werent-meant-to-offend-ahomka-lindsay\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My comments weren't meant to offend - Ahomka-Lindsay - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Robert Ahomka-Lindsay, has insisted that recent comments\u00a0attributed to him about diasporans were not meant to offend anyone. Mr. Ahomka-Lindsay’s speech at the Ghana Diaspora meeting in Accra, garnered lots of attention after he appeared to show displeasure at diasporans\u00a0who ‘whined’ about everything they felt was not going well […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/07\/my-comments-werent-meant-to-offend-ahomka-lindsay\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/citi97.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-07-13T17:00:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@citi973\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@citi973\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/07\/my-comments-werent-meant-to-offend-ahomka-lindsay\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/07\/my-comments-werent-meant-to-offend-ahomka-lindsay\/\",\"name\":\"My comments weren't meant to offend - Ahomka-Lindsay - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-07-13T17:00:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-13T17:00:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/07\/my-comments-werent-meant-to-offend-ahomka-lindsay\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/07\/my-comments-werent-meant-to-offend-ahomka-lindsay\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/07\/my-comments-werent-meant-to-offend-ahomka-lindsay\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"My comments weren’t meant to offend – Ahomka-Lindsay\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/\",\"name\":\"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\",\"description\":\"Ghana News | Ghana Politics | Ghana Soccer | Ghana Showbiz\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1\",\"name\":\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/author\/kojo\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"My comments weren't meant to offend - Ahomka-Lindsay - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/07\/my-comments-werent-meant-to-offend-ahomka-lindsay\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"My comments weren't meant to offend - Ahomka-Lindsay - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","og_description":"A Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Robert Ahomka-Lindsay, has insisted that recent comments\u00a0attributed to him about diasporans were not meant to offend anyone. Mr. Ahomka-Lindsay’s speech at the Ghana Diaspora meeting in Accra, garnered lots of attention after he appeared to show displeasure at diasporans\u00a0who ‘whined’ about everything they felt was not going well […]","og_url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/07\/my-comments-werent-meant-to-offend-ahomka-lindsay\/","og_site_name":"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/citi97.3","article_published_time":"2017-07-13T17:00:23+00:00","author":"Kojo Akoto Boateng","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@citi973","twitter_site":"@citi973","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kojo Akoto Boateng","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/07\/my-comments-werent-meant-to-offend-ahomka-lindsay\/","url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/07\/my-comments-werent-meant-to-offend-ahomka-lindsay\/","name":"My comments weren't meant to offend - Ahomka-Lindsay - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-07-13T17:00:23+00:00","dateModified":"2017-07-13T17:00:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/07\/my-comments-werent-meant-to-offend-ahomka-lindsay\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/07\/my-comments-werent-meant-to-offend-ahomka-lindsay\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/07\/my-comments-werent-meant-to-offend-ahomka-lindsay\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"My comments weren’t meant to offend – Ahomka-Lindsay"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/","name":"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","description":"Ghana News | Ghana Politics | Ghana Soccer | Ghana Showbiz","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1","name":"Kojo Akoto Boateng","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kojo Akoto Boateng"},"url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/author\/kojo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336285"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}