The Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party in the 2008 elections says Yaw Osafo Maafo must apologise if the contents of a leaked tape attributed to him are true.

Dr. Arthur Kennedy is also calling on the New Patriotic Party to denounce the contents of the tape recording which he said are "ethnically insensitive."

Former Finance Minister Yaw Osafo Maafo is reported to have said that he did not understand why persons from regions without resources were governing the nation.

He was purported to have made the remark at a private meeting with some party members.

The alleged comments were recorded and leaked to the media.

Mr Osafo Maafo has doubted the authenticity of the tape, insisting it was doctored.

But reacting to the matter on his facebook page Arthur Kennedy said the statements, if true, are in bad taste.

Read the full comment by Arthur Kennedy

SECRET TAPES IN OUR POLITICS
Once again, there are secret tapes of another politician, Hon. Osafo Maafo, making the rounds.

Once again, these remarks, if accurate, were recorded at a party meeting not open to the public.

If these remarks are true, they must be rejected by the party and an unqualified apology made by Mr. Maafo to those rightly offended.

He is a good man and a patriot and these remarks would be out of character. And he would not be the first of our major politicians to make ethnically insensitive remarks.

Presidents Rawlings, Mills and Mahama have all done so publicly. This is not the first time secret tapes have surfaced.

It happened to Nana Addo in 2012 in connection with the infamous "all-die-be-die" tape and to me in connection with an address to NPP youth.

On the other side, it has happened to Kofi Adams and others. In 2012, US Republican Presidential candidate M. Romney suffered greatly when his "47% will not vote for us" remarks were leaked. Before then, Prez Obama had gotten into some trouble with remarks about whites and guns.

We should all be concerned about unauthorized recordings-- they violate the rights of people who speak confidentially and then find their remarks in the public domain .

There should be an honest discussion about the ethics and legality of the dissemination of these tapes. Should we require that the media know who made the recording and whether the recording was authentic?

Next, we need to learn that even in party meetings, there are very different viewpoints and interests.

Finally, public figures must learn the painful lessons of these incidents. We need, when addressing issues of public interest, to be consistent. We must say what we mean and mean what we say in public and in private.