Former President John Dramani Mahama has refuted claims that he was persuaded to concede defeat during the 2016 general elections.
The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II in a bombshell remark said it was through his effort that the former President who was unwilling to accept defeat, conceded.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who was speaking at the United Nations General Assembly said: "at the conclusion of the last presidential and parliamentary elections, the country stood on the edge of disaster. The United Nations representative and the diplomatic community were aghast and alarmed that Ghana was about to slip down the slope of the electoral violense. Fortunately, the moral authority of the palace was at hand. we were able to intervene to persuade the losing candidate to accept his fate and to fly both candidates for a quiet encounter to pave way for a smooth handover."
This is contrary to reports from Mahama that he conceded defeat on his own accord.
However, a statement in reaction to this signed by former Chief of Staff under the erstwhile Mahama administration, Julius Debrah said the former President was not persuaded to concede defeat.
Per the statement, "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. The Asantehene has over the years been a very respected interlocutor in Ghana’s multi-party political engagements. He has been generous in his wise counsel to present and former Presidents. It is public knowledge that President Mahama willingly announced his decision to accept the outcome of the 2016 elections and congratulate Nana Akufo-Addo even before the official results were formally declared by the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission."
Read the full statement below
OFFICIAL STATEMENT ON REPORTS SUGGESTING THAT HE JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMA REFUSED TO ACCEPT & CONCEDE DEFEAT IN THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Reference is made to a video recording of an address by His Majesty the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, at the UN High-Level Forum on the Culture of Peace, which seems to suggest that former Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama had to be persuaded to concede defeat in the 2016 Presidential Election.
As former Chief of Staff to President Mahama, I was associated closely with all the pre, during and post 2016 poll events. 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.
The Asantehene has over the years been a very respected interlocutor in Ghana’s multi-party political engagements. He has been generous in his wise counsel to present and former Presidents.
It is public knowledge that President Mahama willingly announced his decision to accept the outcome of the 2016 elections and congratulate Nana Akufo-Addo even before the official results were formally declared by the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission.
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.
Mr. Julius Debrah Former Chief of Staff Accra.
Source: Peacefmonline.com
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When have they voted for ndc anyway? They should stop their nun sense and continue to live in their inward looking self.
If you little chief is misrepresenting facts, shouldn't he be corrected. How on earth will someone who conceded defeat even before the electoral commission announced the result be persuaded to accept the result. If the chief said he persuaded mahama to accept defeat after Charlotte Osei declared the results, and mahama was still adamant to concede, his statement would have made sense. One is only persuaded when the person is proving extremely stubborn like Yahya Gemmeh or Laurent Gbagbo did. There was no sign that mahama wanted to hold on to power. Those stubborn leaders who never wanted to leave power are the ones who get persuaded weeks or months after an election is held and they are still hanging on. Nana addo up till now has not conceded defeat to mahama after the 2012 election. He went to court and lost and at that point there was nothing he could do, because the court had spoken.
Lets call a spade a spade. The truth is that the former presidents's camp is saying his majesty went a bit too far just to delight the world. So are the so called Ashantis saying Mahamas camp should keep quite in the face of blatant lies? When did we get here? We go out there to the world and disgrace our country like this for showman sake. Hmmmmmm.
I want this to sink deeply in the NDC that and its followers that under no circumstance will the electorate repose their confidence in a deaad goaat. We the electorate decided enough was enough for corrupt John ford explorer Manhama. Pronto. We respect our king not chief oooo tom NDC.
This is not the first time the chief is saying this. Do you remember his 20th anniversary commemoration? He made the same remarks on how he has intervene in Ghana politics from Rawlings down to Nana Addo.
Do Ghanaians remember the issues relating to the residence of the former president (Pres. Mahama)? The NDC said a prominent chief mediated between the then president (Mr Mahama) and Nana Akuffo-Addo (the then presidnet in waiting)who agreed to allow Mr Mahama to live and use his official residence as part of his ex-Gratia. Who was that chief? Where did the meeting take place and what discussions led to that conclusion? We need answers from Mr Debrah. Reading from the story and I quote "Fortunately, the moral authority of the palace was at hand. we were able to intervene to persuade the losing candidate to accept his fate and to fly both candidates for a quiet encounter to pave way for a smooth handover": I believe that from what the NDC said at that time it can be deduced that a meeting took place and concessions were made by both Mr Mahama and Nana Akuffo-Addo which was witness by a prominent chief. Noting from the quotation from the story, Otumfour did not say he did that but he said the authority of the palace. I suppose the "we" he used referred to the palace and it can be the palace anywhere in Ghana. Again, Otumfour or any other chief could have called the then president and asked him to concede defeat without the knowledge of Mr Debra. However, the then president was not forced to concede defeat.
The Otumfuo was harping his relevance at the forum and in the process threw caution to the wind. This was never an issue to be aired at an international forum and it sucks that he did. He probably thought he was elevating himself, but what he actually did was to malign Mahama and undermine the integrity of the entire transition process. That is bad, and coming from the Otumfuor makes it very bad indeed! He gave Julius no choice but to come to the rescue.
Short Memory We are in a Comfortable Lead
NDC MUST FORGET ASANTEFUO VOTES FOR INSULTING OTUMFUO. HO DARE YO SAY OTUMFUO LIED BEFORE SUCH AN AUGUST HOUSE OF UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY. LYING FOR WHAT? NDC IS DOOMED I TELL YOU!
this is the most ***barred word*** denials mahama and his ndc should be making at this time. so they think otumfuo will be telling lies at the UN Assembly? the ndc has already lost the 2020 elections. how can we allow such bunch of ***barred word*** to come to power again? Your Comment: