Mahama explains why he distributed food to the vulnerable himself

Former President John Dramani Mahama has said that his decision to go and distribute food items personally to the vulnerable in their various homes shows he is a true leader.

According to him, in times like this when the country is fighting the Coronavirus pandemic, it takes only a leader to come out and empathize with the most affected so that they know he shares in their grief and plight.

Mahama also noted that adhering to all the protocols put in place to fight the disease, including wearing of face masks, maintaining social distancing, applying alcohol-based sanitizers as well as having a GPS mapping of selected communities makes it easier for a leader to meet the needy in their homes and help solve their problems.

Responding to a question on why he does the sharing of food himself instead of handing them over to his aides to share on his behalf, Mahama responded: “I believe that in times of adversity, and when you have serious issues like the pandemic that we have been going through, it is necessary for us to show leadership and that’s why I believe that going out myself safely and maintaining social distancing with the mask and using sanitizers, it is possible for our leaders to come out for our people to see that you empathize with them”.

The leaders of NPP, Mahama charged, hid in their homes and left Ghanaians to their fate.

Commenting on the cooked food distributed by government to the vulnerable at the time parts of the country was under lockdown, the former president averred that the situation was chaotic.

He bemoaned how people flouted all the protocols, especially social distancing to get a pack of hot meal.

“Definitely, no careful planning went into the initiative. Suggestions to involve assembly members, traditional rulers, religious leaders, civil society organisations were ignored, ” he asserted.

“We have the GPS, the GPS should show us the location of every house…If we deliver electricity and water bills to houses, why can't government, use the same GPS to distribute food to every household”, Mahama quizzed.