Police deny Mahama heckling

The Northern Regional Police Command has denied claims that outgoing President John Mahama was heckled in his hometown in Bole in the Northern Region.

President Mahama, who suffered an embarrassing defeat in December 7 elections, was in his hometown for the Christmas holidays with his family, a tradition he seems to observe over the past three years.

A video that has gone viral appeared to show the President being ‘heckled’ as many people rushed to the catch a glimpse of him on his arrival.

The security detail found it difficult controlling the crowd but finally succeeded in ushering the President into what looks like his family home in Bole.

As the seemingly ecstatic crowd surged towards the President, they chanted, “We want John!” “We want JM!”

The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Northern Regional Police Command ASP Ebenezer Tetteh said what happened on the President’s arrival could not be heckling.

He explained: “The President arrived in Bole and Police in Bole and Rapid Deployment Force in Tamale was led by one ASP Apraku. Even one of the Regional Commanders was part of the security detail that escorted him to Bole.”

He said, “When he arrived in Bole there was a lot of crowd who came out to welcome him and they were in a very jubilant mood and they were shouting, We want JM! We want John!

“He was not heckled and there was no such thing. The security was there to ensure that nothing of that sort happened. There was no hooting as I saw in the video so reports that the President was hooted at should be disregarded.”

The NDC MP-elect for Bole, Alhaji Sulemana Issifu also explained what transpired, saying the President was not heckled or hooted at.

“The negative reports making rounds never happened. This is pure propaganda. It was rather a teeming crowd who wanted the president to speak to them the night he landed in Bole. It was an emotional moment because they were not prepared to leave, but it was also late in the night and there was no PA system but they insisted they wanted to hear from the president.”

He continued: “These are people who had lined up the streets for well over three hours upon hearing the news that President Mahama was coming to town. So why will the same people boo or heckle him. It is false and I can tell you the President was given a rousing welcome and you can tell from the videos and the pictures all over.”

“At a point, the First Lady Lordina Mahama asked me ‘are your people aware the president lost the elections?’ This should tell you that we are not going to turn our backs on our own. The love here is deep and Mahama had about 80% votes in the elections. The propaganda on social media won’t wash and I want to state that the people of Bole love Mahama and will never neglect him.”



Later, President Mahama was forced to deny rumours that he spent last year’s Christmas holidays in far away Dubai.

He was in Dubai for the holidays in December 2013 but insisted that he has not been travelling to the gulf country every year as being speculated by a section of the public who continue poke fun at his electoral defeat to Nana Akufo-Addo of the NPP.

The President on Boxing Day took to Twitter to dispel the rumours, saying “A year ago today, President Mahama was in Bole and not Dubai.”

It would be recalled that President Mahama spent Christmas holidays in Dubai in 2013.

President John Mahama met Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of the UAE in Dubai in 2013.

He left Accra on Monday, December 23, 2013 for the United Arab Emirates, where he and his family spent the Christmas and the New Year holidays.

Former NPP General Secretary Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie criticized the president for ‘abandoning’ this country at a time of economic difficulty.