Fear the fair-weather friends around you - Pratt cautions Mahama

"Persons who are in the NDC and who are worried about the future of the party ought to be able to sit President Mahama down and offer him some serious advice. If you are a President, there are things you can do and things you cannot do, and this point must be made to the President,” says Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper.

Kwesi Pratt Jnr. believes there are some people around the president claiming to be his ‘friends’ yet plotting his downfall.

Contributing to a panel discussion on Radio Gold’s Alhaji and Alhaji programme, Kwesi Pratt urged the president to ask himself why if he has no "fair-weather friends" in his inner circle, "how come everything that happens around him is leaked?"

“…I am a media practitioner and I enjoy the leakages because without them, we can’t function as journalists and I don’t blame journalists for publishing leaks because that is part of our profession. But as a President, he should be worried about that situation. Perhaps it is time for the President to reflect seriously on his own surroundings and all kinds of fair-weather friends around him; because in the final analysis, the Akan Proverb may become relevant: "se aboa bi beka wo a, efri wuntuma mu", to wit; people closest to you are the ones who can harm you....and "nie )niwu didie na owi wo nam", meaning "it is the one who eats with you who can chew your meat”.

The seasoned journalist prays the President gives premium to his words of caution because he believed there are all kinds of people who have no commitment to his (President Mahama's) political projects.

"In politics, friendship; empty friendship is sometimes the most dangerous thing around leaders…what you (President) are doing in the Flagstaff House is not about friendship; it is not even about blood relations," he added.

Commenting on the speech delivered by President Maham during the 57th Independence celebration, he said there is the need for the President’s script writers to be careful when penning his speech.

Even though Kwesi Pratt thinks the address was generally good, he feels “there are certain aspects that could have been avoided."