The arrogance of high commissioner George Ayisi Boateng knows no bounds; his apologies won’t wash

Now that he has been exposed as a knuckle head political partisan and a divisive figure for his crass and abominable remarks about putting NPP members above every other Ghanaian in terms of jobs and other assistance, the Ghana High Commissioner to South Africa, Mr. George Asibi Boateng, is wearing a sackcloth, sitting in ashes and atoning for his “mistakes” — asking Ghanaians to forgive him.

I don’t know about you, but I will not be one of those forgiving Ghanaians. I am angry, and hugely disappointed. I still cannot wrap my mind around the fact that a sitting ambassador whose job is supported wholly by the Ghanaian tax payer, will elect to cast himself in such poor light by antagonizing a segment of his country men and women.

Mr. Boateng words, misguided and imprudent as they are, have come back to haunt him,  and hopefully they should cost him his job. A man of this negativity should not represent our country. It is abundantly clear that Mr. Boateng strongly believed he could simply make those ugly and poorly thoughtout remarks and not ignite a firestorm.

But boy, was he wrong!! Ghanaians jumped on him and pounded him relentlessly for his recklessness, indecency and poor choice of words. You could not help but get real flipping angry at Mr. Boateng. Arrogance and condescension seeped through his words.

He deliberately chose those words with the clear intention of marginalizing that segment of the Ghanaian population which expressed its preference for other political parties in last year’s general elections.

Even when he came under scathing attacks and condemnation, Mr. Boateng stubbornly stood his grounds and chose not to relent. After all, he may have said to himself: “my party is in power, and who are these Ghanaians, particularly those who had no hand in my party’s electoral victory to tell me what to do.”

His last minute apology won’t wash; it is the last grasp of a drowning man. Ghanaians can see through his hypocrisy. Somehow, Mr. Boateng suddenly realized his folly and is genuflecting before Ghanaians, the same people he dismissed with the wave of the hand, and begging them to overlook his “immaturity.” How imprudent.It should be pointed out that it took Mr. Boateng 78 hours to construct his sincere apology.

The implications of Mr. Boateng’s indecent remarks will be far reaching and not bode well for national unity. Indeed, the already sizeable trust gap between the ruling NPP and those who did not vote for the party will be further widened. Hence, these Ghanaians will look at the NPP differently. They will view the government’s intentions, no matter how genuine these intentions are, with a mixture of suspicion and skepticism.

Mr. Boateng is not the first NPP official to be brash and uncouth. There are some known figures in the party who don’t give a damn about Ghanaians who don’t support the NPP or sympathize with it.

They made some really outrageous comments in the past and there was nary a comment from the presidency. Now, however, is the time for Mr. Akuffo Addo to demonstrate that he is the president of all Ghanaians and not just the president of those who voted for him.

He has to restore public confidence in his government which at this point is very low. He should begin by coming out with a powerful statement condemning Mr. Boateng while telling Ghanaians that, no matter their political affiliations, his government will cater to all.