The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni has said the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) position on President Mills' pronouncement on the use of military force in the political crisis in the Ivory Coast is just intended to win cheap political points. Mohammed Mumuni made the comment on News Night on Joy FM in reaction to the NPP’s press conference on President Mills’s stance against the use of military force in the Ivorian political crisis. The NPP led by its flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo and Chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey on Thursday accused President Mills of not adopting a consistent stance in the Ivorian crisis. Nana Addo said the conflicting signals the president was giving pertaining to his stance, portrayed Ghana as an inconsistent, unreliable and dodgy partner of the regional grouping, ECOWAS. But Foreign Minister Mohammed Mumuni said “it is important to underline right from the onset that President Mills’ policy on La Cote d’Ivoire is consistent, it is clear [and] it is unambiguous.” Mr. Mumuni stated that the “president attended the extraordinary summits of ECOWAS and deliberated with his colleagues. He signed the two communiqués that were issued on the 7th and 24th December respectively and he is faithful to all the positions that were taken by ECOWAS.” He further explained that the communiqué only stated that if the attempt to solve the impasse by ECOWAS’ delegation to Ivory Coast failed, the regional body was at liberty to use any mechanism to settle the protracted political dilemma in the country adding, “clearly it did not give primacy to the use of force as Nana Addo and others have understood it.” The foreign minister explained that the country can still support the stance of ECOWAS and choose not to contribute troops, stressing that this does not mean the government is taking a double stance. He said the President believes that at some point it is necessary to resort to the use of force but that should be a measure of the very last resort. “President Mills, yes, says, alongside ECOWAS, 'I believe that at some point it may be necessary to resort to the use of force but that should be the measure of the very last resort, after we have exhausted all other avenues to achieve a diplomatic and a political settlement. If all of those fail and there is nothing else we can do then we can resort to military use of force'”, adding "'but when it comes to the use of force, my country’s position is such that I will be unable to contribute any forces.'” He said the president’s reasons for taking such a stance include the fact that the military is overstretched. He said the president recently declined to contribute troops to Somalia at the request of the US due to the strain on the military. Story by Derick Romeo Adogla/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana