Two days ago on Joy Evening News it was reported that some people across the continent have reacted rather negatively to President Mills’ statement at the Editor’s Forum held at the Castle on the 7th of January this year, that he is guided by a popular saying in Fante ‘Dzi wo fie asem’ meaning ‘mind your own business’ in dealing with the political impasse in Ivory Coast.
The reactions came as a result of BBC’s broadcast of President Mills’ stance on the Ivory Coast political crisis. This is not the first broadcast the BBC has done on Mills’ stance after the President publicly made the comments some two weeks ago.
This time around the broadcast did not dwell on the President’s call for a diplomatic peaceful resolution to the crisis instead of the legitimate force proposed by the ECOWAS to get Laurent Gbagbo out but the part of the statement which saw Mills make the ‘Dzi wo fie asem’ remark.
The BBC in my opinion took President Mills’ statement out of context and put it out there.
Clearly, what the President meant is that in dealing with other nations on matters as delicate as this, he is guided to tread cautiously and also he is not to meddle so much into the issue but to mind his own business of ensuring the territorial integrity of his country.
What is worth noting also is that, if President Mills had wanted to mind his own business, he would not have been at the ECOWAS meeting which saw Ouattara declared as the winner of the Ivorian elections. He was at the meetings on the two occasions that the leaders of African states met. He did not delegate anybody to represent him as some African leaders did. He was there in person and signed the communique that recognised Ouattara as the president-elect.
Reacting to BBC Network Africa’s comment of the day (which is mind your own business) Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni said “I am shocked at the quotation that was taken completely out of context and put out there. Clearly when you hear what was said out of context, really, the reaction is bound to be what it was”.
As a citizen of Ghana, I am totally against the way BBC put the comment out there. I know the ‘mind your own business’ comment made by the President really got some world leaders who are noted for interference in other nations’ affairs uneasy and this maybe a knee jerk reaction to get the world thinking minding your own business is not an option after all.
If you are a Ghanaian who loves live and complaining of economic hardships then I think your advice to President Mills will be for him to mind his own business in other to save the lives of over a million Ghanaians living in Ivory Coast and also to forestall the consequences of refugees trooping into the country if military force is used.
God bless our homeland Ghana.
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