*Mills Ordered To Sack Her
Those who call the shots at the seat of government are mounting pressure on President Atta Mills to kick Tourism Minister, Zita Okaikoi out of his government DAYBREAK has gathered.
Indeed she is currently under investigations after petitions upon petitions reached the office of the President all aimed at getting her out of the Tourism Ministry. Names that have popped out for her possible replacement include that of her deputy.
Reports say spies have been set on her at the Tourism Ministry to look out for her flaws and errors and they report on her activities on a daily basis.
Also, projects meant to be undertaken by her Ministry and agencies have been frozen with the said funds diverted to the other areas.
Zita entered into the bad books of the powers that be after she refused several calls on her to jump to the rescue of Stan Dogbe when he started fumbling in the media in an attempt to explain how he used an amount of GH¢169,000.00 (¢1.69billion) he took from the Ministry of Information; money meant to be used in educating the public on the 2010 National Budget.
DAYBREAK gathered that when the media got wind of the ¢1.69billion scandal and started running the story, Zita was called upon to jump to Stan Dogbe’s rescue because she was the one who authorized him to sign the money on her behalf at a time she was Minister for Information.
She was reportedly asked to find convincing expl
anations on how the amount was used so as to cure the impression that the Presidential Aide had been corrupt and misappropriated the tax payer’s money.
Castle sources say though Zita originally agreed to do the talking and a number of radio interviews were arranged for her, she turned them down with an excuse that there were too many contradictions over the issue and adding her version would further complicate matters.
She has since then stood her ground that Stan Dogbe alone could best explain what and how he used the money for. This annoyed ‘powers that be’ at the Presidency as it was interpreted as a stab in the back and an attempt to sabotage government’s ‘PR’.
Indeed, the Communications department at the Presidency has had a long standing battle with Zita when she was Information Minister as a couple of role conflicts occurred between her office and that of the communications department at the Presidency.
Subsequently, Information Minister John Akologo Tia was asked to step into the matter and help defend Stan but he ended up worsening matters and entering into a war of words with the dismissed Director of the Information Services Department (ISD) Nee Agiri Barnor
What is not yet clear is whether President Mills would bow to pressure and dismiss Mrs. Okaikoi or he would wait for a justifiable cause to sack her on good grounds.
Source: GhanaWeb
