Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has explained that his reference to ‘Papa No’, a Twi phrase which translates as ‘That man’, was used in jest and not meant to spite any particular person or group of persons.
Making a submission on the floor of Parliament on Friday night, during the debate for approval of the Agyapa Royalties Limited agreement, the Minister, who is also the MP for Ofoase-Ayirebi said: “Mr Speaker, I want to encourage my colleagues on the other side; I want to encourage my good friend who just spoke (John Jinapor). In my hometown, we will say ‘Papa no.’ I want to encourage ‘Papa no’ to take some time and follow the structure of this conversation and support.”
This was after the NDC MP for Yapei Kusawgu, John Jinapor, had made contributions on the motion before the adoption of the report on the agreement.
Call for its expungement
However, soon after making the statement, which did not go down well with the minority side of the house, the Minister called on the Speaker to let the phrase be expunged.
“Mr Speaker, earlier, I was trying to catch your eye to request that the use of my expression which caused apprehension on the other side be expunged from the record.
“I didn’t mean it to offend anybody. It was in jest. And if anybody took offence to it, the records should reflect that it’s been expunged,” he said.
Angry minority
The minority had expressed their displeasure at the use of the phrase by the Minister. Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu had said they “take strong objection to it.”
“If you don’t withdraw, we won’t recognise you today as a Minister. We will not. Do what you will do, from today, we won’t recognise you as Minister of this Republic.
“And we will not accord you any respect as a minister. Let’s throw it to the dogs. What do you take us for? So, ‘Papa no’ accepted. But from today, we will not”, a livid Haruna Iddrisu said.
He added: “We will give you a name. We will give you a name. And we are serving notice; he was elected just like you. And his constituents respect him. Because you people use ‘Papa no’ on social media, we know what it means. We will march with you. You have lost my respect as Minority leader from today. We will march with you. We too, we will call you ‘Maame no’.”
Meanwhile, members of the opposition NDC have since taken to social media to assassinate the character of Mr Oppong Nkrumah with vile propaganda following the incident in Parliament.
