I regret using those words and I apologize - Napo to John Mahama

The president’s nominee for the Ministry of Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has apologized to former president, John Dramani Mahama, for accusing him of busing and paying people to go the Independence Square.

The minister-designate had said in 2019 that the ex-president was behind why some parents were reported to have fainted at the Square where parents and their wards had gathered in protest to the national placements for senior high students, seeking redress on a number of issues.

But, during his vetting in Parliament by the Appointments Committee, the Member of Parliament for Tamale South, Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini, asked him to verify or not if those statements he made were true.

The nominee responded ‘no’, to which the Committee member sought an apology from him.

Suhuyini: Can the nominee prove to this Committee that ex-president Mahama bused people to the Independence Square and paid them to fake collapsing during the SHS placement?

Opoku-Prempeh: No, I can’t.

Suhuyini: Does the nominee therefore think, that in his inability to prove this before this honorable Committee, he owes the ex-president an apology for that?

Opoku-Prempeh: No, I don’t. Mr. Chair, I actually said that I’d use different words and I do regret.

Ranking Member on the Committee, Haruna Iddrisu, then comes in to urge the nominee to do the right thing.

Haruna: Honorable nominee, you see, just withdraw and apologize if you cannot prove it and then we make progress.

Opoku-Prempeh: Honorable member, you asked me to do something and I did it. If those words I used hurt him, I do withdraw and I apologize to him.