Randy ran Mahama's home, Stan ran his errands - Bagbin

Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has said while senior journalist Randy Abbey managed Mr Mahama's home during his presidency, former presidential staffer Stan Dogbe ran errands for him.

He insisted that Mr Mahama's handlers made it difficult for him to gain access to him while in office.

"It was very difficult [getting access to President Mahama] … so I had to even tell my good younger brother Dr Atuguba [Executive Secretary to the President at the time] that: 'If I cannot advise you people in private, I'll advice you in public, and that was the fifth attempt [to see the President]," Mr Bagbin told Bola Ray on Accra-based Starr FM on Wednesday, 21 June.

Asked by Bola Ray to name the handlers who he claimed constantly prevented him from seeing the president, Mr Bagbin said: "You had the Secretary, Dr Atuguba, who I constantly met and who in my presence got the instruction of the President to organise the meetings; you had Stan Dogbe who was constantly in the presence of the President and running errands and doing so many things for him; you had Randy [Abbey], who was in charge of the domestic [affairs] in the residence of the president – I mean that was the perception, whether it was the reality or not, that was it … it’s possible that was not the truth because perceptions are not the reality …"

It is recalled that Mr Bagbin had exchanges with Mr Dogbe during Mr Mahama's presidency following his (Bagbin's) media interviews that he was being prevented from advising the president about ongoing corruption in his government.

Mr Dogbe, at the time, described Mr Bagbin’s claims as "lies" and wondered, in a Facebook post, what the former Minister of Health did to uproot corruption at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital during his tenure. "What concrete actions did Hon Bagbin take as Minister of Health when issues of concern arose in Korle Bu? If he had acted decisively and in the manner he is spewing out now, would we have been where we are?" he wrote.

Mr Dogbe's reaction prompted a response from Mr Bagbin on Accra-based Joy FM, saying if President Mahama had "people like Stan Dogbe following him around, if such characters as Stan Dogbe are those managing the president, then our president is naked, very naked!"