National Democratic Congress (NDC) stalwart, Inusah Fuseini, has revealed that former President John Mahama distanced himself from Stan Dogbe after the Ghana@59 brochure scandal.
This revelation on Thursday evening is contrary to widespread perception at the time that Mr Mahama was protecting Stan Dogbe, a controversial political appointee in the then Mahama-led administration.
“After the Independence Square brochure brouhaha, I was privileged to meet the President…he told me what he was trying to do and he did it. But people simply did not appreciate what he had done. Stan Dogbe, before the Independence Day celebration thing, was always with the President after that, Stan Dogbe was never with the President,” Inusah Fuseini, Tamale Central MP, said on PM Express.
READ: I will quit Political if Mahama gets 30% votes in 2020 – Owusu Bempah
Inusah Fuseini made the revelation on the current affairs show to buttress a point that former President Mahama’s announcement on Thursday to contest the NDC presidential primaries was a well-thought-through decision.
Show host, Nana Ansah Kwao IV, had asked the NDC MP if Mr. Mahama had taken steps to deal with people like Stan Dogbe, who had earned a lot of public disaffection but remain close to him.
Stan Dogbe once destroyed a voice recorder belonging to a reporter at the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC). He was never sanctioned.
Brochure fiasco
READ: Deputy Eastern Regional Minister resigns
Grave grammatical and factual errors inundated a 30-page brochure that was distributed to dignitaries to celebrate Ghana’s 59th Independence Day anniversary in 2016.
The incident caused many critics – both home and abroad – to criticise the government on many media platforms, including social media.
For instance, Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta, one of two African Presidents invited to the March 6 anniversary, was designated as the President of Ghana in the error-ridden brochure.
Stan Dogbe was believed to be deeply involved in the processes that led to the printing of the brochure, however, acting Director of the Information Services Department (ISD) at the time, Francis Kwarteng Arthur was fired after he took responsibility for the errors in the brochure.
READ: Kofi Annan likely to be buried on September 13
Stan Dogbe remained a presidential staffer days after the incident, stoking public speculation of a deliberate attempt to protect him.
One communications expert, Dr Eric Opoku, suggested that President John Mahama was covering up for Stan Dogbe after Mr Mahama described the errors in the brochure as ‘printer’s devil.’
“If you listen to the president, he is trying to enlarge the blame and shift it entirely away from Stan Dogbe. I think that is quite unfortunate. I don’t see why the president couldn’t be bold and say that: ‘This person did this, this person did that, and I am getting them out of my office,’” Mr Opoku told Accra-based Class FM.