NDC Member of Parliament for Builsa South constituency, Clement Apaak says the governing New Patriotic Party owes former President John Dramani Mahama an apology.
According to him the apology should come without delay.
The National Communications Director for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Ahiagbah in his latest comment suggests that there is truth in the claims by John Dramani Mahama that he is not receiving benefits due him as a former President.
Speaking to TV3 in an interview on their 'Ghana Tonight' Show, the 2020 presidential candidate of the NDC disclosed that he has been denied several benefits he is supposed to enjoy including an office and payment of his bills.
“I receive only my monthly pension like [former] President Kufuor, and [late former] President Rawlings was receiving [it] before he died. That is all I get.
“I pay the electricity bill for my house and my office, I pay the water bill for my house and my office. I live in my own accommodation so the State does not pay me anything for accommodation.
“They haven’t given me an office, I rent an office in East Cantonments, I pay the rent myself, I pay my own fuel, the State doesn’t give me fuel, I pay my own domestic staff, I pay my own medical bills, I pay my own air tickets when I travel,” former President John Dramani Mahama said.
But Mr. Ahiagbah in an interview has disclosed that there is conversations to get an office for ex-President John Dramani.
“The government of Ghana is working to give him an office. There is a conversation to get him an office. If the office has not been given to him the letter I have here has not confirmed it but what it tells me is that there is a conversation to give him an office and his office is aware,” the NPP Communications Director said.
But speaking on Okay FM's 'Ade Akye Abia' programme, he explained that the former President said the absolute truth about his entitlements and that government's decision to politicize it is just much ado about nothing.
"Government should admit that they have erred and that they will work on the demands of the former President and have them provided to him, but to agree in part that there is a conversation to get an office for the former president is an admission that you have erred and therefore need to render an apology to the person of the former President," Clement Apaak said.
"It is imperative to note that former President Mahama's demand is not personal, it is his right as provided by the constitution and if you are unable to provide them for him, you don't drag his hard earned reputation in the mud. What I think the NPP government should be doing is that they should apologize to the former President rather than justifying their perverse action," he added.
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Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline/[email protected]
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The question one may ask is, did ex-president mahama provided office accommodation for ex-president Kuffuor when he was the president? Did mahama paid water bills and electricity for president Kuffuor and Rawlings? How can a developing country like Ghana has such things in the constitution? You pay everything for your ex-presidents and pay them huge salaries for what? There should be an amendment to the constitution. A former president who draws his salary every month coming to contest for president again. Another question is, if after paying ex-president mahama accidentally becomes president again and after 4years, is he going to receive another ex-gratia? Because the man has received 2013 ex-gratia and 2017 . What kind of constitution is that? If not greediness why should mahama contest again or there’s no sensible person in ndc who can lead the party.
The Ghanaian economy has a structural problem, but that is not grown out of the NPP-government's ***barred word***. It is the NPP-administration, however, that has made a concerted effort, policy-wise, to change the status quo. The one district, one factory approach is a policy in point. The same cannot be said of the NDC administration's spelt-down policy program to transform the colonial economy. Therefore, the NDC, as an opposition party, lacks the competence for any meaningful transformational policy, and that is why it's silence on campaigning on policy programs.
The NDC and its cohorts and sycophants can rally behind Mahama while failing to recognize that the use of propaganda as a primary tool for winning elections in Ghana today is long overdue. This kind of strategy presumes that the electorate is uneducated, politically uninformed and buys into anything that paints the ruling party as bad and corrupt. There are indeed challenges in the Ghanaian economy due to the pandemic and the Ukraine war, and the NPP-administration does not dispute that fact and is resolved to turn things around come 2024. The government believes that it was doing better before those crises, and the economic indicators at the time attest to that. Do Ghanaians see it so? Notwithstanding the current challenges, there are massive infrastructure projects that are not on hold but progressing. If you ask me, the propaganda strategy is going to be counterproductive if the cedi, the Ghanaian currency, appreciates from its current high levels against the dollar, before 2024. It would then be just too late for the NDC to embark on a policy-based election campaign. The current hardship in Ghana makes it appear that the NDC has a chance with the propaganda tool, but if the dynamics change in favor of the government, changing the outlook for the best, then the NDC will lose abysmally.
APOLOGY? Tweaaa apuuuuuu My foot!
Ghana's so called politicians, very greedy and inward looking. For the 20 years i.e. 1996-2016, John Mahama as an MP, deputy minister, minister, vice president , president, it is the Ghanaian tax payer that have catered for his salaries, allowances, accommodation, transport, electricity, water, health care, telecommunications, fuel, clothing etc. Having left office a few years ago you are now complaining about paying your own electricity and water bills? Are you not the one using them? Are you aware that your primary 1 teacher if still alive is paying for his water and electricity bills from his meager monthly pension? Don't you pity the poor tax payer. How can someone who doesn't pay tax be enjoying more than the taxpayer ( presidents of Ghana don't pay tax from their salary) What kind of '***barred word*** farm ' country is this. Politics good, all other public sector jobs bad. Such people will come to you as if they are interested in your welfare, deep inside their hearts they are looking for big bread for themselves, their wives and children not the people. NDC/NPP are twins coming from the same womb. The difference is which of them is more clever when it comes to ***barred word***. They have all come to agree they are nation wreckers, the argument is who sinks the country deeper when they are in power.