Akufo-Addo must apologise for smearing Mahama over voters' register – Mogtari

Joyce Bawa Mogtari, spokesperson for former President John Mahama has called on President Akufo-Addo to retract and apologise to her boss for smearing his reputation over the voters’ register impasse.

According to her, the President’s assertion that Mr Mahama’s concerns over the planned new electoral roll before the election is a call for chaos is disappointing and unfortunate.

“We are shocked and disappointed in his response. I think it is rather unfortunate the comment made by the president to the concerns by Mr Mahama. Compared to when he was opposition leader and the threats they subjected the then electoral commission chair to, I haven’t heard any NDC member beat war drums as we heard from the NPP in those years. The comments were most unfortunate, most uncalled for and not good,” she told Francis Abban on the Morning Starr.

She added: ” I challenge everyone who watched the president yesterday to put the tapes together and then draw your conclusions. We will then expect that the President apologizes and retract the comment. What happened yesterday was way below the performance of a president and we are calling on President Akufo-Addo to render an unqualified apology for trying to smear Mr Mahama”.

President Akufo-Addo while speaking at the 20th-anniversary celebration of the founding of the Tertiary Students Confederation (TESCON), on Tuesday in Ho, in the Volta Region said he will not allow any sour loser to create conflict on or after the polls.

“But I want to assure him that there will be no strife, there will be no conflict after the December 7 general elections. The good sense of the Ghanaian people, which has preserved the peace and stability of the 4th Republic for the last 27 years, will continue to prevail, and they will not permit any poor, desperate loser to plunge this country into chaos. Ghana is bigger than the ambitions of any of us”.

He further stated: “Some parties have made it a penchant to continuously attack the Electoral Commission for reasons I cannot understand. This is the time we need to give the Electoral Commission peace to do its work. Every little thing, they are at the Electoral Commission attacking the Commission… our electoral process has inherent safeguards in it that any serious political party can ensure that it polices that election, and makes sure of the integrity of the election."

"I believe that our Electoral Commission continues to be one of the most experienced and the best not only in Africa but in the world, and has delivered very successful elections in the past, and, if we give it the encouragement and support that they deserve, they should be able to deliver us a successful election.”