Ayariga: I gave govt, party info to US officials

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Created on Tuesday, 06 September 2011 00:00

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Ayariga: I gave govt, party info to US officials

Deputy Minister of Education Mahama Ayariga has admitted disclosing information about President Atta Mills' government and the NDC to US diplomats.

Mr. Ayariga is quoted in the latest Wikileaks cables as admitting serious personality problems amongst members of President Mills’ communication team during his term as presidential spokesperson.

He’s said to have cited strained relations between himself, former Information Minister Zita Okaikoi and the Director of Communications at the presidency Koku Anyidoho.

The former presidential spokesperson admits making the statements but believes he did nothing wrong.

“I have had conversations with all manner of persons on our governance structures and the weaknesses inherent in our governance structures. I believe that among those that I have been speaking with on our governance structures will include staff of the American embassy,” he told Joy News.

“…and I believe it’s not just with them but also with all those who have an interest in our governance structures.”

Mr Ayariga believes it will be wrong to suggest that he erred when he was only expressing a genuine concern that was already public.

“Anybody who was in this country in the early days of our government would admit that there were issues in the workings of the members of the communication team of the government and this was public knowledge,” he said.

Mahama Ayariga would however not indicate whether the president has questioned him on the issues but Joy News sources indicated some senior members of the party are considering inviting him for a discussion.

He says he is not surprised at the revelation.

“I am intelligent enough to know that when I engage in conversations with development partners they use that as a basis for understanding your country…and which areas of need exist in your country that they should intervene in…so that when there is a need for them to be sympathetic to your government then they can do that instead of being hard on you in terms of pressing forward certain demands of you,” he said.

He said he also was talking about “challenges that government was confronted with, measures that we were putting in place to deal with those challenges and our determination to succeed as a government.”


Source:Fiifi Koomson, Joy FM