Condemnable ethnocentric comments of Osafo Maafo still a threat to democracy - Mahama Jabs

Former President John Dramani Mahama has observed that the comments of Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo still remain a threat to African democracy and must be condemned by all well-meaning Ghanaians.

It would be recalled that Mr. Osafo Maafo in the run up to the 2016 elections, was caught in a secret tape during a meeting with the party’s council of elders in the Easter Region saying “You have all the resources, but you have no say in the management of your resources and that is what is happening. Your development depends on the one who has no resources,” the voice said.

“You can’t say this openly,” he cautioned the Council members, but added that they are at liberty to talk about it among Asantes.

“We should protect ourselves, we should protect our income. No one who is the source of income, the source of revenue, the source of resources allows another person without those resources the chance [to rule over them].

“It’s never done anywhere in the world. In the world over, it is the group with the most resources that rules and not the other way around,” the voice said.

In the estimation of the voice, “86.5 percent of resources in Ghana come from five regions: Brong Ahafo, Ashanti, Eastern, Western and Central. This is where 86 percent of the resources of Ghana come from… And the oil was also discovered in the West. It will change the formula to about 90 percent. We cannot ignore these five regions. We should not,” the voice added.

Speaking at the Saïd Business School in collaboration with the African Studies Centre and the Oxford Africa Business Alliance under the theme “Democracy and Elections in Contemporary Africs, Mr Mahama observed that thnic bigotry is a threat to African democracy.

He stated that democracy must seek to include and not exclude warning that overt or covert activity, speech or action that seeks to exclude any part of a national population from fair participation in governance is subversive of democracy.

“That is why comments by a senior public official in my country that national leadership should be the preserve of only resource-rich regions of Ghana must be condemned by all well-meaning Ghanaians. Insurgency in the Sahel and Savannahs are also a growing threat to African democracies. Terrorist groups that are determined to disrupt democratic societies are increasing in activity in the Sahel and savannah regions of Africa”, he warned.