‘The Fourth John’: Mahama defended me against his close associates – Manasseh

Investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni has disclosed that he has a personal relationship with ex-president John Dramani Mahama, despite widespread public perception that he was equally a strong critic.

He described Mahama as a gentleman who was tolerant to a fault so much so that the former president defended him (Manasseh) at a point against attacks by people in his own inner circle.

GhanaWeb monitored an interview that the journalist granted to Ghana Television’s Abdul Hayi Moomen on Wednesday evening discussing a wide range of issues around his journey so far in Ghana’s media space.

With respect to Mahama shielding him, the one-time journalist of the year said it came in the wake of his publication of a book about the former president, ‘The Fourth John.’

According to him, Mahama told his close associates at the time: "When the young man publishes the book, nobody should attack him,” adding: “I met John Mahama myself and what he said was ‘I don’t agree with some of the things you have reported about me and when I met him we disagreed about the Ford (bribery)…

“And recently he spoke about that story… but I respect your right to say them and I will defend your right to say them,” he told the host.

He ranked Mahama higher than President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in the area of defending press freedoms and deepening freedom of speech.

He slammed the current president’s press rights record asserting that overtly and covertly, the Akufo-Addo government had overseen the return of one form of the culture of silence or the other.

He is adamant that despite recent calls for Ghanaians to apologize to Mahama because of what he sees as worse performance by Akufo-Addo, he bore no regrets about stories he did under Mahama, stressing that he will do all of them over again given the opportunity.