You'll Lose Nothing . . . Just Admit Your Wrongs - Kabila Tells Politicians

Acting General Secretary of the Convention People's Party (CPP), James Kwabena Bomfeh, popularly called Kabila, has asked former President John Dramani Mahama to eat humble pie by admitting his mistake with a video narrative on the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence he is reported to have shown to some diplomats.

He has equally asked politicians across the divide to be bold enough to admit their wrongs whenever they err.

Former President John Mahama, last week met with some members of the diplomatic corps, and showed to them, videos and pictures of the violence that had occured a few days earlier.

He showed them two sets of videos with one being the subject matter of the ongoing Presidential Commission of Inquiry and the second (which includes 2 videos), being a video that he (Mahama) claims is an evidence of members of an NPP vigilante group at the funeral of the former MP for Ayawaso West Wuogon and earlier providing security for the NPP Parliamentary candidate in that by-election.

But Boakye Agyarko, former Energy Minister and brother of the late Member of Parliament, has strongly dismissed the claims made by the former President regarding the second video.

Describing Mr. Mahama as a "bald faced liar", the former Energy Minister sought to expose the former President to the international community that "there was no such activity at the funeral ceremony. The funeral of our late brother was organized successfully without any casualties and we find this distortion very surprising. The family is reliably informed that, the video display was at L/Cpl. Daniel Adu Tieku’s funeral held in August 2018. The family is appalled with the actions of the former Presidents which seeks to denigrate the memory of the noble man who has been put to rest peacefully".

According to him, the family expects Mr. Mahama to "render a retraction of this palpable falsehood and render an unqualified apology for his unfortunate and despicable action".

Despite the family's request for an apology, Spokesperson for former President Mahama, James Agyenim Boateng in an interview with host Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" couldn't tell whether they will apologize to the family or not.

He described the former President's meeting with the diplomatic corps as "a routine exercise; it is not against the law to meet the diplomatic corps. They should focus on the main issue; what actually led to the violence and not the meeting with the diplomatic corps".

Addressing the issue during a panel discussion on "Kokrokoo", James Kwabena Bomfeh called on Mr. Mahama and people in politics, especially; to stop defending the indefensible when faced with the truth.

Opposition leaders will make statements that are not statements of fact. You lose nothing by admitting that what I said was wrong. As a person, in our pursuit for power; we normally forget something. It saddens me that we forget to learn the lessons of life..."

Kabila also charged all politicians to accept their faults when they make one and not to assume they're infallible because the power they seek is transient.

To him, their quest for power can compel them to do anything including resorting to the use of falsehood to advance their cause but urged them, particularly the youth in politics, to desist from such character.

"Due to power; we feel we don’t make mistakes. Due to power, we think we will live forever. Due to power, we do anything we like. I plead with the youth, especially those who take delight in telling lies just for the sake of power, that power may come [yes] but it is transient,
” he advised.

Meanwhile, Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, at a press briefing has indicated that the "Government of Ghana will this week put the diplomatic committee in Ghana on formal notice that former President John Dramani Mahama peddled several falsehoods and sought to undermine the authority of the state".