The former Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Hon. Charles Bintim, has expressed surprise at reports that there is tension in Kpandai in the Northern Region, and pointed out that someone must have a hidden agenda for peddling such untruth. He has also pointed out that many are those who are clearly misinformed about who actually built the new palace that has been used as the basis for claims that he (Bintim) is causing tension in Kpandai. Hon. Bintim made those assertions in reaction to a publication by The Independent headlined MINISTER SPARKS ETHNIC TENSION, published on Tuesday, May 8. According to Hon. Bintim, he is surprised at the claims of tension in the town because most of the major tribes of Kpandai were present at the opening of the Palace in question. The Nawuris, were there, he said, and so were the Basaris, the Kotokolis, and it was the Nawuris who poured the libation for a successful programme before the function could proceed. Even the Chief Imam of the town was also present, he added. The Nawuri chief himself was not at the function, but he sent a nine-man delegation led by his representative, one Peke, who is a former Assemblyman in the area, and he spoke at the function, Hon. Bintim said and added that the Basari chief and the Kotokoli chief also spoke at the opening ceremony. Turning his attention to the palace proper, Hon Bintim said, "I only helped the construction of the building with only 10 bags of cement, and even then I did it upon request from the chief of the Konkomba community in the town, a man who happens to be my father in the true African sense." "He had put up his palace, roofed and almost completed it when he asked for help to finish it, and the least I could do is to oblige," Hon. Bintim explained. Hon. Bintim, who is a Minister of State at the Presidency and also the Member of Parliament for Saboba, also in the Northern Region, could not understand why the Member of Parliament for Kpandai, Hon. Lakpalimor Kwajo Tawiah, would take the stance he is reported to have taken on the matter. He explained that, "when the chief of the Konkomba community called me for the opening ceremony, I asked if he has invited Hon. Tawiah, and he said he has not, and I told him categorically that if he does not invite him, I will not come." "I did everything to ensure that he (Tawiah) would be part of the opening programme, by insisting that the MP is present for the opening of the project in his (Tawiah's) constituency," Hon. Bintim affirmed and added that, "because of my insistence on his presence, the programme, which was originally slated to come off on March 30, 2007, was postponed." "On April 30, I called the Chief to ascertain if he had invited Hon. Tawiah, and he said he had but my colleague MP, had turned down the invitation," he added. "On the day of the function I drove straight to the Kpandai police station and interacted with them, met the Bureau of National Investigations officer in the town before driving to the venue with the Chief Inspector in charge of the station and the CID officer there." During the function, Hon Bintim said, the representative of the Nawuri chief, Peke, pointed out that, “Nawuris and Konkombas are like twins, we also have this little problem, and we hope you would give to us too the same support you have given to them.” The former Minister for Local Government disclosed that, "when a Konkomba dies certain rites are performed for him. Such rites are performed not in a room, but in a hall, and every Konkomba knows that, and this chief is over 80." "In my private and public conversations he always preached peace by explaining that we can have that only if all the tribes live in peace with each other," he said. "I always state that Konkombas are here because the land is fertile, they do not own land," he asserted, "and so the chief whose palace is at the centre of this whole affair is the chief of the Konkomba community in Kpandai." The day of the programme was a day of dancing and merrymaking, Hon. Bintim reported and added, "There is no tension here."