Former President and 2020 Presidential Candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Mahama, has responded to comments that the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) will only hand over to a flagbearer of the same party after President Akufo-Addo has exhausted his tenure.
President Akufo-Addo, who won a second term with only a small majority in parliament, and has since been under pressure as the country struggles with economic troubles, wishes to hand over to a successor from his party in 2025.
Addressing members of the NPP during the party’s Greater Accra Regional Delegates conference last week, the Director of Operations at the Presidency, Lord Commey, stated that they must do everything possible to retain power because he was not willing to see their government hand over power to the NDC.
“If God blesses you with power and you don’t grab it well, you will regret what would happen to you…Break the 8 has become the slogan amongst us but so far as I live, I won’t break any eight (8)…The power I have, I would not hand it over today nor tomorrow,” Commey stated.
But Mr. Mahama has replied him, saying the power to retaining a government lies in the hands of Ghanaians.
Speaking in an interview with Global FM in Ho on Monday to begin his ‘thank you tour’ of the Volta Region, Mahama condemned the comment and questioned the rationale behind such thinking.
“What kind of democracy is NPP fostering in this country and when you listen to people like Lord Commey and things, it’s about Power; it’s not about the welfare of the people, it’s not about the will of the people,” he said.”When you get power, you should hand it over to someone. What do you mean by that?”
“When arrogance and power sets in then you hear people speak so carelessly and recklessly. I think it’s most unfortunate and if you listen to some of them, you see arrogance and power has gotten to them,”Mahama jabbed.
Reacting to Commey’s comment that the President said he’s going to hand over to an NPP president, Mahama noted that “It’s not your will; it’s God’s will and the will of the Ghanaian people.”
He added, “whoever wins the election, you must hand over. Kuffour handed over to Mills, I handed over to you Akufo-Addo. I could have made up my mind that I wanted to hand over to an NDC president but it’s the will of the people.”
He continued, ” If the people decide, you must agree and the point is, I don’t know where he’s coming from but I mean statements like these are reckless and I think that when they make them, the President is happy with them.”
To the former president, Ghanaians should vote against the NPP government since they have nothing better to offer.
Source: Myxyzonline.com|Ghana
