Mahama opens up on Akufo-Addo’s visit
Pratt slams Bawumia over Mahama attacks
Kwesi Pratt Jnr, the Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper, has disclosed why Gabby Otchere Asare Darko and not the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, nor vice president, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, held talks with former John Dramani Mahama over the impasse in parliament.
Pratt discloses there is some mistrust between the former president and his successor after the former was backstabbed by the Akufo-Addo government.
He said that during the transition process in 2017, a meeting was held at the behest of Otumfuo Osei Tutu where a number of agreements were reached.
Pratt claims that President Akufo-Addo did not honor his side of the agreement and instead used the information as propaganda.
“Why can’t the president talk to the president? Why does he have to go through emissaries? At the very worst the sitting vice president may be the very worst to engage him. It appears to me that we destroyed the cordial relationship which should have existed.
“In the past, there were meetings between the incoming president and the outgoing. From all that we know, some of the agreements reached were not honored. Some of the agreements were used as propaganda tools against the former president,” he said.
On Bawumia, the veteran journalist believes the relationship between him and John Mahama has soiled to a level where it is impossible for the two to hold private talks.
Pratt narrated that Bawumia has turned Mahama into a punching bag and at the least chance attacks him.
“If you take the sitting vice president, I’m wondering how in his life, he can approach the former president to have any meaningful discussion look at the jibes he has been throwing at him. Any opportunity he gets, he has to attack him. That kind of attitude is not useful for governance looking at the situation we find ourselves in", Pratt said.
The seasoned journalist is however questioning the locus of Gabby Otchere-Darko in the Akufo-Addo government and why it has to take him to initiate talks with the former president.
Pratt’s comment came on the back of the private legal practitioner’s visit to the house of John Mahama.
The former president revealed to hosting Gabby at his house to deliberate on matters of government interest.
“President Akufo-Addo did not seek my intervention on the E-Levy impasse. I received Mr. Gabby Otchere Darko, at his request, at my residence on Tuesday 21st December, 2021.
“Among issues we discussed was the desire of Ghanaians to see the two major political parties working together for the interest of the nation.
“We discussed, also, how dialogue can be deployed to ensure parliamentary issues are agreed consensually before coming on the floor to avoid what happened recently in the House.
“We further discussed opening channels of communication between the leaders of the two parties including a possible meeting with the president at a future date.
“At no time was there any discussion specifically about the president requiring my intervention in the impasse on the E-levy,” Mahama’s statement read.
John Mahama and Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia