The Minister-designate for Information says his ‘papa no’ comment on the floor of the House was not meant to trivialize the Agyapa Royalty Minerals deal that was being discussed.

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah explanation comes after the Ranking Member of the Appointments Committee, Haruna Iddrisu reiterated his displeasure of the choice of diction of the Minister-designate in the House Thursday.

According to him, the magnitude of the Agyapa Royalty Mineral transaction that was being deliberated on at the time, was too important for the Ofoase-Ayirebi MP to use such comments on the floor.

“We hold this offices in public trust and there is a parliamentary debate on the motion of government of Ghana seeking to monetize its mineral royalties of up to $1 billion you sought to reduce this to a debate about an innuendo which was being shared on social media,” he said.

However, responding to the issue, Mr Oppong Nkrumah noted that the he was only trying to take a jibe at the MP for the Yapei-Kusawgu constituency, John Jinapor and not to derail the essence of the topic that was being discussed.

The Minister-designate further indicated that he later apologised and asked for the ‘papa no’ comment be removed from Parliamentary records.

“Mr Chairman, as the Minority Leader will recall, on that faithful evening when his objection was raised you were in the Chair. I voluntarily sent words to you that I would like to apologise and have it expunged from the record. And you gave me leave to do so.

“As leader will recall, right in the division room here, when he stepped out, I approached him and expressed my apologies to him because as I argued, I had no intention of reducing the quality of the debate,” he said.

In August 2020, there was drama in Parliament after Mr Oppong Nkrumah described former Deputy Energy Minister John Jinapor as “Papa no.”

This phrase ‘Papa no’ had become popular on social media after actress Tracey Boakye used it repeatedly to describe a married man she claims she and musician Mzbel are in the same relationship with.

When Mr Oppong Nkrumah used the phrase in the house, the Minority Leader immediately demanded that the MP retract his words and apologised else the NDC MPs will refuse to recognise him as a Minister of State.