Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah has lashed out at the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its leader, Nana Akufo-Addo, for criticizing President J.E.A. Mills’ decision not to engage in any military intervention in Cote d’Ivoire. He was responding to questions posed to him by host of Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem programme, Adakabre over an article he wrote in the Daily Graphic of Thursday, January 27, 2011 edition under the headline ‘President Mills is right on Cote d’Ivoire’. The former Communications Minister said the position taken by President Mills is in the best interest of Ghana and Africa as a whole and accused the NPP of trying to score cheap political points in order to wrestle power in the 2012 general elections. Dr Spio-Garbrah labelled the NPP’s tactic as a “George Bush style democracy-at-the-barrel-of-a-gun policy”, explaining that the party would want Ghana to take up arms against another country at the least opportunity. Dr Spio-Garbrah went on to say that the Mills’ government had adopted an “African diplomacy” approach in the wake of the Ivorian crisis. He said he was of the strongest conviction that Nana Akufo-Addo would want the government to commit troops to Cote d'Ivoire. Explaining his point, he said he was happy with the engagement of different mediation groups to attempt to resolve an African political crisis. He said President Mills had not turned his back on the ECOWAS agreement on Cote d’Ivoire as being suggested by the NPP because according to him, the other options had not been exhausted yet and there was therefore no need for people to emphaisize the use of legitimate force. Dr Spio-Garbrah also sought to explain a part of the article where he labelled Nana Akufo-Addo as a “conspicuously befuddled leader”, saying that the NPP flagbearer was confused and “lacked judgement” over the matter. In a reaction to this, an aide to Nana Akufo-Addo, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor condemned Dr Spio-Garbrah’s comments. He questioned how Dr Spio-Garbrah had at one point been attacking President Mills and was now trying to be perceived as an ally of his. He said the entire members of NPP, including former President John Kufuor and Nana Akufo-Addo shared in the public statement read out by Chairman, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey on January 21, 2011. Responding to the assertion that Nana Akufo-Addo would mobilise troops into Cote d'Ivoire if he were the president, Jinapor said the NPP leader has never said anywhere that he would have committed troops there but rather emphatically stated that he would first consult the top hierachy of Ghana's military over the matter before taking a decision. He rather pointed the blame at the Mills’ administration, saying that the Minister of Foreign Affiars, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni had made a contradictory statement to that of President Mills over the Ivorian crisis on the BBC. The article written by Dr Spio-Garbrah in the Daily Graphic which seems to have sparked some controversy, praises President Mills’ decision not to send troops into Cote d’Ivoire but rather engaging in “African democracy policy “. Spio-Garbrah condemned the NPP’s position on the matter, describing Nana Akufo-Addo as a “conspicuously befuddled leader” while in the same light, praising former President Kufuor over his efforts in brokering peace in Cote d’Ivoire after the coup d’etat attempt in 2002. He subsequently asks former President J.A. Kufuor, “...please re-educate your party leadership on how to apply wisdom”. Story by Fidel Amoah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana