General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), John Boadu has berated former Chief of Staff in the John Dramani Mahama regime, Julius Debrah for issuing a statement on comments made by the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II at the United Nations General Assembly.
According to Mr. Boadu, Mr. Debrah’s comments has no factual basis and cannot be substantiated and must be disregarded by the generality of the Ghanaian people.
In his estimation, the former Chief of Staff’s statement, issued on behalf of former president John Mahama is nowhere near the truth that transpired during the 2016 General Elections.
The NPP Chief scribe described as a normal practice, the situation where the Asantehene meets all presidential aspirants, a fact he opined the NDC cannot deny on any day.
According to him, election 2016 was not an exception and that the revered Asantehene met all the presidential candidates before and after the elections.
“This is a normal exercise we all do. When you listen carefully to what Otumfour said, just day before he the leading contestants and spoke to them. He added that days after the elections, he will still meet them. I also believe that in between the days, they spoke as he (Otumfour) is saying”, Mr. Boadu explained.
Read excerpts of Mr. Debrah’s statement below:
“I state without equivocation that the decision to concede and congratulate Nana Akufo-Addo even before the official results were declared was taken by President Mahama himself without any persuasion from any quarter. On the day President Mahama willingly conceded defeat, he met with then-Vice President Kwesi Bekoe Amissah- Arthur, NDC Chairman Kofi Portuphy, General Secretary of the NDC Johnson Asiedu Nketia, together with some high ranking members of the party and informed them of his decision to call and congratulate Nana Akufo-Addo.
Following the meeting with the party, he called a number of personalities including President Jerry John Rawlings, President John Agyekum Kufuor, Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, National Chief Imam Sheikh Nuhu Sharubutu, Rev. Ernest Agyei of the Ringway Assemblies of God Church and Archbishop Duncan Williams.
As Otumfuo himself has already stated publicly, under his auspices, there were three meetings held in Kumasi between President Mahama and then Candidate/President-Elect Nana Akufo-Addo during the period.
The first was prior to the December 07 election in which the two candidates promised to play fair and respect the will of the people. Indeed, President Mahama in a conversation with Nana Akufo-Addo said he hoped Nana was not going to tie down the nation in a court case again after the 2016 elections.
The other two meetings took place after the official declaration of the results of the elections, and to re-emphasise, after President Mahama had publicly conceded and congratulated Nana Akufo-Addo.
Those two meetings focused on matters arising out of the transition process.
President Mahama made a commitment to the people of Ghana, never to be the one to subject them to the periods of unease, political instability and the doubts they experienced after the 2008 and 2012 elections. He remained true to that commitment and exemplified it after the 2016 elections”.
Source: BestNewsGH.com
