After weeks of rumours and speculations as to the reasons behind his resignation as deputy Agriculture Minister, William Quaitoo has opened up saying he did so to appease members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) who were hurt by his utterances.
The Former Agric Minister came under intense public attack after describing Northerners as ‘liars’ and ‘difficult’ people to deal with in a radio interview.
His comments came on the back of a demand by some group of farmers in the Northern Region whose farms were allegedly affected by the armyworms for assistance from government.
Williams Quaitoo, who doubles as the Akim Oda MP, apologized for his comments and subsequently tendered his resignation to the President sparking suggestions that he was forced out by pressure mounted on him by members of the opposition NDC.
But the Akim Oda MP in an interview on Starr Chat, Wednesday, denied any form of pressure on him to resign over his comments.
He disclosed that his resignation was because “I thought that there was pressure on the president…by my brothers from the north, party members inclusive. I did not resign because of the comments the NDC did, but because of my own party people”
“I resigned because of my own party people. They were hurt, they were offended and in order to appease them to let them be happy” the former deputy Agric Minister stressed.
On why he did not stick to his initial apology, the legislator replied, “I don’t want to be the Judas of any situation”.
William Quaitoo also noted that “I felt very bad for the president. I was listening to comments from everywhere following Facebook and other social media”
According to him, his comments were “blown out of proportion and out of context” however, he his resignation was based on his principles as a person.
Despite apologizing for the comments which he described as regrettable, the northern group of the minority demanded his immediate resignation.
MP for Sagnarigu, A.B.A Fuseini who led the attack on his colleague said he must also leave his seat as a Member of Parliament.
“We are demanding that he should, immediately, on his own volition resign as a minister and quit from Parliament, failing which the President must sack him to show his revulsion against such ethnocentric tribal bigotry.”
“The people of the three northern regions have been grossly insulted… 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.” Hon Fuseini said at the time.
William Quaitoo’s decision to resign however courted the admiration of many including Governance Expert, Dr. Eric Oduro Osie who admonished government appointees to take cue from Hon. William Agyapong Quaittoo to resign honourably when the need arises.
