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The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has for the past two months embarked upon massive decongestion exercise to clear hawkers off the streets and to demolish containers and structures that have been sited at unauthorized places. The action of the AMA has received mixed reactions from residents in the Metropolis. Whilst some people have commended the city authorities for doing the right thing, others have also come out to condemn it as inhumane because it would deprive the affected traders of their only source of livelihood. Whilst the debate was going on, the raucous Member of Parliament for Kpone Katamanso, Nii Afotey Agbo also came to muddy the waters by attacking the AMA for embarking upon such an exercise on the eve of the Christmas festivities. He warned the AMA boss that Ghana is not like America, therefore, he must be careful about his actions. Three days after this attack by the MP, the two state owned media houses - the Daily Graphic and the Ghanaian Times came out with a story that President Mills had ordered the AMA to halt the decongestion exercise. The two papers quoted sources at the seat of government, at the Osu Castle, as their source of the story. In dramatic turn of event, the AMA boss, Dr. Alfred Vanderpuye also called a news conference to announce that the President had called to apologize to him over the content of the two publications, implying that the President did not give any directive, as published. Those who are arguing for and against the demolition exercise have legitimate cases, but we are not interested in going into the merits of the issue now. Our concern is about the pronouncement by Mr. Vanderpuye that the President has called to apologize to him. To us, the Accra Mayor�s action is a complete breach of confidentiality. If the President did apologize to him in a private telephone conversation as he claimed on Wednesday, this week, there was no need for him to go public with it. The AMA definitely has a public affairs unit and if the Mayor had consulted them, they would have advised him as to how to properly handle his public relations by not going public with a private conversation with the President. Communications management is a specialized field, but unfortunately most Chief Executives think it is an easy thing to handle by themselves. The Chronicle believes that if Nii Vanderpuye had allowed his public relations outfit to take over the issue, they would have massaged the message better, before putting it in public domain. He should count himself lucky because in some dispensations, the President would have fired him immediately after his blunder. It is our hope that other public appointees would take a lesson from this gaffe and allow their Public Relations unit to function they way they should, without any interruption.