Ask Mahama why I didn’t serve in his government - Koku Anyidoho

Outspoken former Spokesperson at the Office of the President during the first three years of the Atta-Mills administration has revealed he has no explanation as to why then President John Mahama didn’t offer him a place in his government following the demise of the late President Atta-Mills.

He was speaking exclusively to GhanaWeb’s Kyenkyenhene Boateng on 21 Minutes with KKB.

In the interview monitored by MYNEWSGH.com, ‘The Bull’ as Mr Anyidoho is known in political circles, said the only person who can answer why he didn’t serve in government was the one man who could have made him serve, John Mahama.

Asked by Ghanaweb’s KKB why he “didn’t play much of a role in John Mahama’s government”, Koku replied pointedly: “You can ask him (John Mahama) that question”.

But Mr Koku Ayidoho was quick to add that though he didnt get to serve in government, he served John Mahama within the NDC party. He used just one word to describe his relationship with Mr Mahama: “SMOOTH”.

“From the party perspective I served him(John Mahama). Comfortable lead, who was I working for? Is it not John Mahama? Whose name did I mention in the press conference…

Asked if he organized that presser so people could mock Mr Mahama, he said it was untrue and attributed it to “a certain entrenched mindset orchestrated by those who want to do it”.

I loved Mills; but I served Mahama

Mr Koku Anyidoho, had in the past shed some light on his relationship with former President John Mahama, saying it was mostly borne out of a call to duty.

Mr. Anyidoho was however known to have a very warm relationship with John Mahama’s predecessor, John Evans Atta Mills, almost to a father-son relationship.

A year ago, in March 2017, MYNEWSGH.com reported that in an appearance on GH One TV’s current affairs programme, State of Affairs, Mr. Anyidoho said he loved Atta Mills and “will never regret working for him… President Mills, I salute you in your grave. Nobody will take that away from me,” he had declared.

When prodded with a line of questioning on whether that love translated to John Mahama, Mr. Anyidoho simply implied that his relationship with Mr. Mahama was merely an obligatory working relationship, noting that love was “conditional”; adding that “I loved President Mills; I worked for President Mahama.”

On July 24, 2012, President John Atta-Mills died at the 37 Military Hospital aged 68, having battled with throat cancer, and in the days leading up to his death, had been in the US for some medical attention.

In line with Ghana’s constitution, John Mahama, who was the Vice-President, took the oath of office as Head of State, going on to win the December 2012 elections.