Don't mistake Prez Mahama for a weakling - Apaak

President John Mahama is a "man of steel" with a gentle demeanour and must not be seen as a weakling, Presidential Staffer Dr. Clement Apaak has said.

“This is not a President who is easily ruffled”, Apaak told XYZ News Wednesday.

According to him, Mahama “always maintains his cool, calm and collectedness, which [are] the attributes that most Ghanaians certainly admire, but underneath that public cool calmness is a man of steel [who is] very determined”.

“…As a member of the great commonwealth hall - an old vandal - he knows exactly what he wants to do and he’s going to do it. That also means if he feels the need to state a point and state it in a very poignant and forceful way, he’s going to do it”, Dr. Apaak stressed.

His comments come on the heels of a flood of criticism against the President over his handling of a tall list of corruption allegations against public officials and some private individuals in connection with some state institutions which has led to the loss of hundreds of millions of Ghana cedis and dollars.

Among the litany of corruption allegations are: the Ghc203 million Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) scandal, the Ghc45 million Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) rot, the US$372 million tax evasion scandal involving the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and some 280 private and public organisations and the Ghc 144 million Subah InfoSolutions saga.

These allegations have sparked a wave of bad press and no-holds-barred polemic against the President from opposition members as well as former Majority Leader Alban Bagbin - a member of the President’s government.

Bagbin’s tirade sparked a spat between him and the President who recently told his critics that: “Recently a few of my comrades have questioned my commitment to fight corruption. I dare say they don’t know me. For those who disagree with me and are anxious to see my back, not to worry, 2016 is not too far away. I will urge them to be patient. In this difficult job, the least one expects is loyalty and comradeship”.

Dr. Apaak defends the President’s riposte and explains that: “…Essentially what he’s saying is that, ‘I have my plan; I know what I’m doing; I’m going to do it, I’ll achieve my results and if at the end of the day, the time comes and you feel that I have not, and you feel that you have the capacity to bring it on, bring it on. And that is the truth. I don’t think anybody should fault him for also saying his side of the case in a very emphatic way”.

He said: “I can tell you that he wasn’t joking when he said that there’s a lot of work going on in the background…make no mistake, he’s very determined and indeed Ghanaians will truly begin to understand when he says that those who think he doesn’t have what it takes to fight corruption, indeed they don’t know him yet”.