Jon Benjamin, the British High Commissioner to Ghana, has said that neither the British government nor the British High Commission will meddle in the politics of the country.
He stated that the Commission which he represents as well as himself are entirely politically neutral as regards Ghana�s domestic politics.
According to Mr Benjamin, the country�s politics �is for the people of Ghana and the people of Ghana alone to decide in periodic elections who should govern them.
�We have, we do now and we always will work happily with whichever government and leadership Ghanaian democracy produces at any given moment. So, if anyone wants to claim that we are siding with one party or the other, they will get short shrift from us,� he stated.
Mr Benjamin insisted: �We aren�t and we won�t. Please don�t pray us in aid for domestic party political point scoring. That is simply not a game we are getting involved in.�
In a speech delivered at the 10th anniversary dinner of policy thinktank IMANI Ghana on the theme �Integrity in Public Office�, the British High Commissioner to Ghana said his home government celebrates Ghanaian democracy which has so much that it can teach others in this region.
He said the people of Britain generally wish nothing but the very greatest success and brightest possible future for Ghana and all its people on the long road towards full economic development.
Mr Benjamin stated that the UK and Ghana share common goals in many areas including economic development, adding that the UK has a large aid programme and is the only G7 country to have reached the UN target of devoting 0.7% of its GDP to development assistance, bilaterally, through the EU and through UN and other international agencies.
On his recent actions in respect of the cocaine bust in UK, the British Commissioner averred that �those who accused us of interfering in internal affairs by issuing a statement about the case � our only statement I might add � then I�m sorry to tell them that we have every right publicly to correct an equally public, prior erroneous claim about our involvement in this case.�
He added, �That is precisely one of the things diplomatic missions are there for. We would not expect the Ghana High Commission in London to stay silent in the face of false information about Ghana in the UK. We would certainly not accuse the Ghana High Commission of supposed �interference� for making such a correction, and do not accept that allegation against us in this case.�
Still on the arrest of Nayele Ametefeh, Mr Benjamin was emphatic that Ametefeh upon her arrest was not carrying a Ghanaian diplomatic passport.
Wondering the source of that rumour, he said �It didn�t come from us. It wasn�t true at the start and, therefore, it still isn�t true now.�
Mr Benjamin said the repetition of an incorrect rumour, whether by an Austrian newspaper or anyone else, doesn�t turn an untruth into a truth.
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