To be truthful to ourselves, nobody can say Mahama is arrogant - Kwesi Pratt to Akomea

Veteran journalist, Kwesi Pratt has diffused notions about the character and personality of ex-President John Dramani Mahama.

Mr. Pratt waded into discussions on the banter between the former President and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Intercity State Transport Corporation (STC), Nana Akomea, where the latter admonishes Mr. Mahama to stop receiving ex-gratia as a matter of principle.

Nana Akomea, speaking on Peace FM's morning show "Kokrokoo" weeks ago, charged Mr. Mahama to demonstrate by example his claim to abolish ex-gratia if re-elected President of Ghana.

"So, you, President Mahama, today if you claim you don't believe in the ex-gratia, the ones that you have taken, we know that you have spent it already, so we can't say that go and bring it . . .but the challenge I am giving to him is that the ones he will be taking from this month May, he shouldn’t take it, he should stop taking the ex-gratia, the same way Togbe Afede stopped and returned his own, he should follow the same principle," he told host Nana Yaw Kesseh.

In reply, Mr. John Mahama explained that he receives a monthly pension and not ex-gratia as Nana Akomea claimed.

"My friend Nana Akomea. Really sad what politics can do to a fine mind! I don't take ex-gratia. I receive a monthly pension," John Mahama tweeted but Nana Akomea finds this response insulting to him.

"I only asked him to show leadership by reviewing his own entitlements in the light of the burden these present to the taxpayer and his plan to scrap the Ex-Gratia", Nana Akomea responded, adding "Even if President Mahama disagrees with me, I am sad that he chose to lace his disagreement with insults to my person, by implying politics had caused me to lose my “fine mind”.

However, in a tweet on Monday afteroon, Mr. Mahama further replied Nana Akomea saying "my friend Nana Akomea. I did not insult you. I know you know the difference between a lump sum ex-gratia payment and a monthly pension. Why you chose to misinform the public was because of politics".

Tackling the back and forth conflict between the two leaders, Kwesi Pratt opined that Mr. Mahama's comments may have been misconstrued as, to him, the former President is one of the humblest people.

"If we will be truthful to ourselves, nobody can say President Mahama is arrogant. Those of us who know him or are his friends know for a fact that he is not prideful. He is not arrogant", he told Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's show "Kokrokoo" Tuesday morning, May 30, 2023.