— Domani Spero
[twitter-follow screen_name=’Diplopundit’ ]
The errant tweet, the reaction and the apology to the President and people of #Ghana. From the @USEmbassyGhana pic.twitter.com/E29nPItg93
— Israel Laryea (@Izraella) July 18, 2014
Close to 300 Ghanians have now waded in on the US Embassy Accra’s FB page, where there appears to be a competition between those who were offended (“It’s shameful to meddle in our domestic politics.”) and those who applauded the errant tweet. One FB commenter writes, “I was very happy when I saw your reply to the president… Ghanaians support what you mistakenly posted on Twitter.” Another one added, “Why are [you] apologising? That question was legitimate and pls ask him again.”
SpyGhana.com reports that senior Ghanaian government officials including the National Youth Co-ordinator, Ras Mubarak and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hannah SerwaTetteh have reportedly demanded “an unqualified apology” from the Embassy. It also reports that on July 25, “hundreds of Ghanaians will stage a peaceful protest march on behalf of their government against the American Embassy in the country for launching an attack on a social media post by President John DramaniMahama.”
Apparently, some in the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) are now even calling for sanctions against Ambassador Gene A. Cretz and the embassy staff over that spectacular, albeit errant tweet containing 73 explosive characters:
“@JDMahama and what sacrifices are you making? Don’t tell me that pay cut.”
According to SpyGhana.com, the response was in reference to a much criticized decision by the Dramani administration of slashing the President and his ministers’ salaries by 10% to demonstrate their sacrifices as the country faces economic hardships while ignoring “other huge unconventional sources of funds.”
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such a logical expectation re blanket authority is what makes the satire so rich.
Surprising, given the byzantine clearance process described in January’s Foreign Service Journal. http://goo.gl/S2dEuK
I think the process described there is if you’re writing in a private capacity. PA folks who typically handle social media probably have a blanket or pre-approved authority for managing the official account.