{"id":349150,"date":"2017-08-29T20:31:40","date_gmt":"2017-08-29T20:31:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=349150"},"modified":"2017-11-10T14:44:10","modified_gmt":"2017-11-10T14:44:10","slug":"deputy-agric-minister-resigns-over-ethnocentric-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/08\/deputy-agric-minister-resigns-over-ethnocentric-comments\/","title":{"rendered":"Deputy Agric Minister resigns over ethnocentric comments"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0Deputy Minister for Agriculture, William Quaitoo has resigned for what many have described as ethnocentric comments about people from the three regions of the North.<\/p>\n<p>President Nana Akufo-Addo accepted his resignation from office this evening, according to the Presidency&#8217;s Director of Communications, Eugine Arhin.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-349166\" src=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/04404dfa-0e4d-4c68-a17d-f47812a04e21-e1504040587562.jpg\" alt=\"04404dfa-0e4d-4c68-a17d-f47812a04e21\" width=\"607\" height=\"275\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Mr. Quaitoo, who is also the Member of Parliament for Akim Oda, had come under fire for saying, in an interview on Accra-based Star FM, that northern farmers\u00a0could not be trusted in their assessment of damage from armyworms.<\/p>\n<p>He further intimated that calls for government compensation for farm losses from the northern farmers were simply a ploy to fleece the state.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Our brothers [in northern Ghana], it is so difficult to deal with them. I lived there for 27 years, I speak Dagbani like a Dagomba and all that. They are very difficult people. Nobody can substantiate. If anybody says that his farm was destroyed by armyworm, the person would have to come and prove it. We have no records of that. It\u2019s just a way of taking money from the government; that\u2019s what they do all the time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Mr. Quaitoo subsequently apologised for his comments in a statement, where he said he meant to imply that \u201csome farmers can be difficult as it is with all regions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also said\u00a0he prided himself as a Dagomba, having lived in the Northern Region for 27 years, and assured that he would not \u201cconsciously spite them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Apology not accepted<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>But the apology would not be enough, with the Minority in Parliament <span style=\"color: #666699;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #666699;\" href=\"https:\/\/contextly.com\/redirect\/?id=XH6zF4WQVs:348667:2934:13:::sidebar:59a5d0bd563469-47068995\">calling for<\/a><\/strong><\/span> either his resignation or his immediate dismissal from the government for the disparaging comments.<\/p>\n<p>The National Democratic Congress Member of Parliament for Sagnarigu, A. B. A Fuseini,\u00a0for one, said he would not accept the apology as he felt the damage from the Mr. Quaitoo\u2019s \u201crepulsive\u201d comments had already been done to millions of northerners.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe people of the three northern regions have been grossly insulted\u2026 he has painted us a bunch of unreasonable people who cannot even understand and appreciate normal discourse then he goes on on the basis of that to say that we are untrustworthy people for perpetrating fraudulent activities, making false claims and stealing monies from state coffers,\u201d Mr. Fuseini had said in a <strong>Citi News<\/strong> interview.<\/p>\n<p>Criticism also came from <span style=\"color: #666699;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #666699;\" href=\"https:\/\/shar.es\/1SePSw\">within the Flagstaff House<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, with\u00a0a presidential staffer, Clara Napaga Tia Sulemana, stating that a mere apology would not be enough.<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Suleman, a Dagomba, described the comments as painful and chided him for making the governing New Patriotic Party look bad in northern Ghana.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDagombas are Northerners, Ghanaians and are humans as well, who also have blood running through our veins. We deserve far better from your likes. It\u2019s indeed painful. Those sitting unconcerned and making it look like it\u2019s a small issue we are blowing out of proportion, today it\u2019s about the Dagombas, tomorrow it might be you,\u201d she said in a Facebook post condemning his comments.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>By: Delali Adogla-Bessa\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0Deputy Minister for Agriculture, William Quaitoo has resigned for what many have described as ethnocentric comments about people from the three regions of the North. President Nana Akufo-Addo accepted his resignation from office this evening, according to the Presidency&#8217;s Director of Communications, Eugine Arhin. Mr. Quaitoo, who is also the Member of Parliament for Akim [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,11],"tags":[3,2102],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Deputy Agric Minister resigns over ethnocentric comments - 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\/08\/deputy-agric-minister-resigns-over-ethnocentric-comments\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Deputy Agric Minister resigns over ethnocentric comments - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The\u00a0Deputy Minister for Agriculture, William Quaitoo has resigned for what many have described as ethnocentric comments about people from the three regions of the North. President Nana Akufo-Addo accepted his resignation from office this evening, according to the Presidency&#8217;s Director of Communications, Eugine Arhin. Mr. Quaitoo, who is also the Member of Parliament for Akim [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/08\/deputy-agric-minister-resigns-over-ethnocentric-comments\/\" \/>\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=\"2017-08-29T20:31:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-11-10T14:44:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/04404dfa-0e4d-4c68-a17d-f47812a04e21-e1504040587562.jpg\" \/>\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=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/08\/deputy-agric-minister-resigns-over-ethnocentric-comments\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/08\/deputy-agric-minister-resigns-over-ethnocentric-comments\/\",\"name\":\"Deputy Agric Minister resigns over ethnocentric comments - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-29T20:31:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-11-10T14:44:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/08\/deputy-agric-minister-resigns-over-ethnocentric-comments\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/08\/deputy-agric-minister-resigns-over-ethnocentric-comments\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/08\/deputy-agric-minister-resigns-over-ethnocentric-comments\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Deputy Agric Minister resigns over ethnocentric comments\"}]},{\"@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":"Deputy Agric Minister resigns over ethnocentric comments - 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\/08\/deputy-agric-minister-resigns-over-ethnocentric-comments\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Deputy Agric Minister resigns over ethnocentric comments - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","og_description":"The\u00a0Deputy Minister for Agriculture, William Quaitoo has resigned for what many have described as ethnocentric comments about people from the three regions of the North. President Nana Akufo-Addo accepted his resignation from office this evening, according to the Presidency&#8217;s Director of Communications, Eugine Arhin. Mr. Quaitoo, who is also the Member of Parliament for Akim [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/08\/deputy-agric-minister-resigns-over-ethnocentric-comments\/","og_site_name":"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/citi97.3","article_published_time":"2017-08-29T20:31:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-11-10T14:44:10+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/04404dfa-0e4d-4c68-a17d-f47812a04e21-e1504040587562.jpg"}],"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":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/08\/deputy-agric-minister-resigns-over-ethnocentric-comments\/","url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/08\/deputy-agric-minister-resigns-over-ethnocentric-comments\/","name":"Deputy Agric Minister resigns over ethnocentric comments - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-08-29T20:31:40+00:00","dateModified":"2017-11-10T14:44:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/08\/deputy-agric-minister-resigns-over-ethnocentric-comments\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/08\/deputy-agric-minister-resigns-over-ethnocentric-comments\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/08\/deputy-agric-minister-resigns-over-ethnocentric-comments\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Deputy Agric Minister resigns over ethnocentric comments"}]},{"@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\/349150"}],"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=349150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349150\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}