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Information & Media Relations Minister Hassan Ayariga has confirmed President John Dramani Mahama�s recent disclosure that some people within his government are putting pressure on him to dispense with the services of Finance Minister Seth Terkper. The grouse of the agitators, President Mahama said, was that the professional reforms that Mr. Terkper was instituting at the Ministry of Finance were blocking some loopholes and stalling business as usual. Contributing at the weekend, to the debate ignited by Dr. Mahammadu Bawumia�s Visiting Professor lecture on the �Falling Cedi�� at Central University early last week, Information Minister Ayariga said issues raised by the NPP Vice-Presidential Candidate for 2008 & 2012 were a mere rehash of information that the Finance Minister had unguardedly let out on the economy. �There is nothing that Bawumia is saying that the Finance Minister has not said. I have consistently had problems with the Finance Minister [Seth Terkper] on this issue. I must say it on this platform because, he has insisted on, �look if you want Ghanaians to help you solve problems, you would have to state it�. �I disagree with this style. People are now using those statements purely for propaganda purposes and they are not helping in managing the situation�, Minister Ayariga lamented. Unfortunately for the Information Minister, The Chronicle fully supports Finance Minister Terkper over his �frankness, openness and policy of honesty� on the state of the economy. These are traits expected of any minister who carries out his functions professionally. And we urge him to continue, within the terms of his oath of office. If government communicators are making heavy weather of it in defending the government against opposition communicators, it is not because of the Finance Minister�s candour, but the Information Minister�s mishandling of his own functions. The coherence of NPP communicators on the airwaves cannot be mere coincidence, but the result of prior preparation and adequate briefing on the issues by professionals who understand them; something which apparently Mr Ayariga may not be doing. By Minister Ayariga�s own admission, the Finance Ministry gave out the figures that Dr Bawumia used two months ago. The fact that the figures were not flattering ought to have put him on notice that it was only a matter of time before they became issues in the propaganda war across the political divide. If he fiddled instead of coaching his communicators on how to counter their opponents in the opposition, he cannot blame Mr Terkper for his own failings. Many will remember, as The Chronicle does, that untruths told by the Finance Ministry regarding our economic data cost Ghana millions of dollars in fines in the early days of John Agyekum Kufour administration. International Monetary Fund officials who came on an assessment towards the end of President Jerry John Rawlings� second term were deliberately sold dummy figures at the Ministry of Finance, on the basis of which the IMF gave Ghana a clean bill of health. The IMF hopped mad, months later, when they discovered the subterfuge and imposed a fine on Ghana. The nascent Kufour government, then grappling with the decision whether or not to declare HIPC, had to make time to sort that out with apology. If that is what Information Minister Ayariga wants repeated with his insistence that the Finance Minister become economical with the truth, then he should have a rethink. The Chronicle will like to remind all office holders that we have the law of �causing financial loss to the state� still on our statute books. If each executive employee of the state would find the time to re-read that portion of the constitution, they would realise that there is no limitation as to when such a suit may be brought or by whom. Once some have gone from office into prison, more will follow sooner or later!