By Gifty Boateng
Michael Okyere Baafi told the Eastern Regional Minister she had no right to speak because she is from Kroboland. Now a traditional leader has given him seven days to apologize or else. It is not the first time the MP has used his platform to attack a regional minister.
On a recent radio studio program, Michael Okyere Baafi, the Member of Parliament for New Juaben South, did not merely criticize the Eastern Regional Minister. He dismissed her as a stranger because of where she comes from.
“Respectfully, as a regional minister, are you from Koforidua?” Baafi said, addressing Rita Akosua Adjei Awatey. “You came from somewhere. You came from Krobo. You are from Krobo to Koforidua.”
The comment, captured on video and widely shared, was part of a broader outburst over a disputed building erected by the previous NPP government. But the focus quickly shifted from the property dispute to the MP’s ethnic targeting of a minister whose only offense, in his view, was being from Kroboland.
Now, a prominent traditional leader has given Baafi one week to retract and apologize or face consequences that, while unspecified, have rattled the region.
For those who have followed Baafi’s political career, the latest incident feels familiar.
In 2024, residents of New Juaben North and South petitioned then‑President Nana Akufo‑Addo to dismiss Baafi as a deputy minister after he went on a radio show and called the then Eastern Regional Minister, Seth Kwame Acheampong, and a constituency chairman “fools.” The MP accused them of working against his re‑election bid.
Now, less than two years later, Baafi has again trained his fire on a regional minister this time deploying ethnic identity as a weapon.
“You [NDC] didn’t build it, we built it,” Baafi said in the same interview, referring to the building at the center of the dispute. “So are you the ones to tell us what to do? When we complain, then the regional minister too wants to meddle in our affairs?”
He warned that if the minister and the Koforidua Municipal Chief Executive, Ranford Owusu Boakye, “misbehave, what we will do to them they will regret.”
‘She Is Not Just a Krobo, but a Noble’
The response from Kroboland was swift and led by Nene Ofie Tagbaja, the Divisional Chief of Asesewa.
“My attention has been drawn to what is circulating about Michael Okyere Baafi undermining the authority of our dear woman, Hon. Rita Akosua Adjei Awatey,” the chief said in a statement. “On what grounds will Okyere Baafi give such a comment? What will come over you to make such a statement? That she is a Krobo? For your information, she is not just a Krobo, but a Noble.”
Nene Tagbaja then delivered an ultimatum: one week to retract.
“If we wait for one week and he doesn’t retract his statement, then what is the true character of Krobo, we shall show him,” the chief said.
He reminded the MP that Koforidua’s water comes from the Krobo enclave and its food basket from Kroboland. “They eat in Koforidua and come to us to drink water,” he said. “The source of water he is drinking is coming from Kroboland.”
Baafi’s rhetoric has drawn condemnation beyond the chief’s palace. Franklin Cudjoe, founder of IMANI Africa, shared the video with a blunt caption: “Sadly there are too many uncouth bush clowns!! Gbemela ga!”
Osudoku TV, a media outlet in Somanya, called it “a grave act of disrespect to the entire Dangme community,” demanding an apology to the Dangme people.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) youth wing in the region also weighed in. Regional youth organizer Richard Nyarko noted that Baafi himself has Krobo heritage through his mother.
“You don’t say that you yourself, your mother is a Krobo, yet you say that somebody is a Krobo and the person being a regional minister cannot put their mouth in matters?” Nyarko said. “If I were him, I wouldn’t have waited for 24 hours. I would retract.”
Nyarko also pointed out the inconsistency in Baafi’s position: previous regional ministers under the NPP including Seth Acheampong (from Kwahu) and others not from Koforidua were never deemed unqualified to serve.
“So he should have known that so far as the woman is the regional minister, she has every right to get involved in anything related to development, peace and tranquillity of the region,” Nyarko said.
Baafi, who has announced he will not seek re‑election after the 9th Parliament, has not yet responded publicly to the one‑week ultimatum. The clock is ticking.
The incident raises larger questions about the boundaries of political speech in Ghana, the persistence of ethnic reasoning in public discourse, and the consequences or lack thereof for elected officials who cross those lines.
For the Krobo community, the issue is no longer just about one MP’s words. It is about whether a public figure can invoke ethnicity to delegitimize a duly appointed state official and walk away without accountability.
“A Krobo is qualified to be a minister,” Nene Tagbaja said. “A Krobo is qualified to be a president. A Krobo is qualified to be a vice president.”
One week. Baafi has until then to decide whether to apologize or test the chief’s warning.