Former President Rawlings has described threats on former President John Mahama following the controversy over the Asantehene’s speech at the UN as utterly inappropriate, labelling groups and individuals who issued the threats as “politically blinded” who deserve to be reprimanded.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) founder noted in a Facebook post that sending threats to a former President of the nation is utterly inappropriate and must be recognized as such when the controversy surrounding the matter dies down.
” Fellow citizens, when the dust settles on the issue of President Mahama and Otumfuo, I hope we finally recognize how utterly inappropriate it is for a youth group and other politically blinded persons to send threats to a former president of the nation, ” he suggested.
The former President is of the opinion that loyalty to political parties must not impair our reverence for leadership.
“I trust that our loyalty to party has not blighted our traditional reverence for leadership,” he stated.
He further urges former President Mahama to make amends with the Otumfuo as planned.
The Asantehene suggested in a speech at the UN that he had to persuade the losing candidate in the 2016 general elections to concede defeat. This did not go down well with the National Democratic Congress, leading Julius Debrah, a former Chief of Staff, to issue a press statement denying the claims of the Asantehene.
Julius Debrah’s press statement angered some persons and youth groups who concluded that his statement suggested that the Asantehene may have lied. They then threatened to ban John Mahama from entering the Asantehene’s territory if he did not apologise.
President Mahama has since stated that Julius Debrah’s press statement was not meant to denigrate the Asantehene given that he ( Mahama) has profound respect for the Asantehene.
