Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, has issued a press release to condemn gesticulations by ‘political opponents and other detractors’ who she claims are reading meanings into a comment she made during a rally at Ayawaso West Wuogon last weekend.
Several people in the creative industry have call upon her to retract and apologize for the comments she made about John Dumelo and the creative industry at large.
This comes after the honorable Minister, while campaigning for Lydia Alhassan in the Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency, jabbed John Dumelo.
She noted that “Parliament is a serious place, therefore it is not for people who have acted in movies and think they are popular”.
She also added that the constituent will not progress should they vote for the opposition party because they will be stuck watching movies.
Meanwhile, for many creative industry persons, Shirley’s comments will incite the perception that the creative arts industry is not one to be taken seriously.
She has however trashed such perceptions amidst pressure being mounted on her to apologize.
She sent out a press release stating that some political ‘opponents and other detractors’ are reading meanings into her comments she made.
She went on to note that she only intimated that it is not only his popularity, that will make him an ‘obvious choice for Parliament’ and then went on to plead with the constituents to vote for Lydia Alhassan so she can do more for the constituency.
She emphasized that the comments made were not meant to attack any particular person or the entire creative industry.
She also noted that it will be considered contempt if any political opportunists twists and portray her comment as a swipe at the entire industry.
Furthermore, she stated that the creative industry has always been one of the sectors dear to her heart and as such has personally championed and promoted the industry at various levels during her political career and that she will be the first to acknowledge that the Creative Arts Sector has churned out some of the finest lawmakers in the history of the country.
She further gave out her respect to the important members of the creative industry and said she will continue to support the industry.
It has not been long when the Screen Actors Guild Ghana (SAG), through a press release, demanded the Foreign Affairs Minister, Shirley Ayorkor-Botchway to apologize for the jabs she threw at the Actor, John Dumelo.
In the press release, the guild emphasized that her comments were ‘distasteful, repugnant and shameful’.
They went on to highlight that, acting is as equally a respectable profession as any other and through acting, you learn how to relate with other people’s beliefs. Therefore it is the perfect profession to ‘matriculate from into parliament’.
They further went on to ask that, Shirley Ayorkor-Botchway should retract and apologize to the creative industry by the close of the day or face the consequences later.
