I never responded to Mahama; I'm being maligned - Quashigah

Member of Parliament for Keta, Richard Quashigah has vehemently refuted claims of chastising former President John Mahama.

A publication quoted the legislator to have expressed utmost dismay over Mr Mahama's purported subtle response to founder of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Jerry John Rawlings as regards the status of the party.

“We have worshipped the Volta god for so long. It is time to build the party beyond individuals. No sacrifice would please him," Mahama reportedly said at the Unity Walk held in Ho.

The said comments, according to the publication did not go down well with Mr. Quashigah as he rebuted on Hope FM.

"First of all, we the Volta Caucus of the Minority are not happy with the virulent words President Mahama used in responding to former President Rawlings. It was unnecessary responding to him. But for former President Rawlings, where would all of us be? This party came into being on his ideologies. We can never and should never forget that."

"Describing him as Volta god was unfortunate much as it was derogatory. The people have been angered by this description, I can tell you for a fact. They feel insulted by the former President, and it would have been good if he had not employed those expressions," he reportedly said.

But in an interview, Quashigah stated that he never granted Hope FM any interview, stressing that the quotes attributed to him were fabricated.

"It's never true. I'm surprised that some people would manufacture such a story. I want to believe that some miscreants who are not members of the NDC could be behind this. Probably, they want to divert attention from some other stories that are affecting their political fortunes" he noted.

"I've never thought of any individual or personality as being a god. Former President Rawlings is highly admired and well respected. But my checks also revealed that former president Mahama at no point ever in Ho as was mentioned in the story, made any such reference to former president Rawlings so why will some people decide to put together such a news item if not for very mischievous reasons?" He queried.



According to Quashigah, he was shocked after reading the said publication and concluded that whoever is behind it is a "genius of evil".

"Having read the story, I think those who crafted it might have studied my previous interviews and write-ups and therefore crafted this that appeared to be my words. In fact, when I read it, I saw my own shadow,"

"Those words are not mine; I've not responded to supposed comments from former president John Mahama" he reiterated while urging the media to uphold ethics of the profession in order not to harm people's reputation."

Quashigah further called on the Ghana Journalist Association as well as the National Media Commission to check the prevalence of fake news.

"I have been a practitioner of Journalism and a teacher of Journalism in this country and I think that is not what others have learnt from us and so those who probably are not journalists but for political expediencies are fabricating these stories and put them out there and lazy media houses are also feeding on them must desist.

"I felt so scandalized to have been referred to have been making a certain comment that I was unaware of. I think this attitude if not checked could bring this nation to its knees because we would be feeding the Ghanaian public with serious untruth, maligning others and misinforming the Ghanaian public. Reason for which I think the Ghana Journalist Association must rise to the occasion as well as the National Media Commission to be concerned and do something about this state of affairs." he postulated.