I Had No Twins

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has broken his long silence on the allegation that he had twins with the Iraqi-born American, Gizzele Yajzi.

At a media encounter organised by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) to mark the 9th anniversary of the repeal of the criminal libel law, Mr. Kufuor stressed that he would never be ashamed of accepting the responsibility of fathering the twins outside his matrimonial marriage.

“That Kufuor had twins; I didn’t consider that a crime at all, supposing I was polygamist, our laws are not against polygamy.

Of course, I am a Catholic and naturally I am a monogamist, and that is what I am. They made the allegations and they were challenged to bring evidence but they couldn’t, so I was expecting the people generally to know that the people weren’t serious,” he said.

There was a hullabaloo in the media in 2005, especially among some members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that former President Kufuor had an affair with the Iraqi-American citizen, and out of that had twin boys, Philip and John.

He said if he had indeed engaged in any extramarital affair with Ms. Yajzi and had twins with her, he would hastily have asked permission from his wife, Theresa Kufuor, sought forgiveness from her and gone for the kids because they would have been his ‘blood children.’

He denied ever dipping his hands into state coffers to furnish his private residence.

“I was also accused of dipping my hands in state coffers to furnish my home; it is the biggest lie that was told. Unfortunately, it was told by people who should have known better.

I lived in my own house throughout my tenure of office and I have lived in that house since 1984, not a chair in that house was acquired by the state,” he added.

The former president stressed that he had no regret in repealing the criminal libel law, explaining that freedom of speech was more valuable than the culture of silence which persisted in the country before the NPP came to power in 2001.

He said Ghanaians should always applaud the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government for any democratic environment that they were enjoying.

He stressed that the bold decision by his party to repeal the law in the country had led to the current freedom of speech that the media in particular and Ghanaians in general were enjoying.

He emphatically stated that he had never regretted repealing the law in Ghana, as most Ghanaians including himself were victims of the said law.

According to him, the political and economic progress that sought to flourish in a climate of freedom and an environment where the press was free and independent of governmental, political or economic control, was based on the repeal of the law.

He stressed that over a 100 FM stations were licensed to operate during his tenure of office due to the interest he had in promoting press freedom and his efforts to make Ghanaians live in a democratic environment.

Former President Kufuor therefore urged the media to publicize all positive measures embarked upon by any ruling government in the country.

By Stella Danso Addai

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