Stan Dogbe has stated that the former president John Mahama did not refer to President Akufo-Addo and his appointees as pigs when he addressed National Democratic Congress (NDC) faithful, Sunday.
The former Director of Communications at the Flagstaff House posted on his Facebook wall clarifying a statement his former Boss while commenting on the divisive remarks by High Commissioner to South Africa, George Ayisi-Boateng.
On October 28, Mr. Ayisi-Boateng who is Ghana’s High Commissioner to South Africa while addressing some TESCON members in Kumasi stated that he prioritizes NPP members over other Ghanaians and added that some Ghanaians are more Ghanaian than others.
He early on refused to apologize nor retract his words when public opinion mounted on him to do so but after being summoned to the seat of government, he released a letter apologizing for the “effect” of his words and retracting same.
This development has however not gone down with a section of society especially the main opposition party, the NDC who accuse him of giving an insincere apology and have called on him to resign or the president to relieve him of his post.
Former president John Mahama who lost abysmally to Nana Akufo-Addo in December 2016 in a failed attempt to secure his second term, waded into the conversation and accused the president of not showing good leadership skills for not sacking Ayisi-Boateng.
Mahama in 2016
He added that Mr. Ayisi’s comments are likable to those of Napoleon and the other pigs in George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’ where the animals said ‘all animals are equal’ but in a bid to justify why they were enjoying the pigs changed the phrase to “all animals are equal but some are more equal than others”.
Mahama was speaking to NDC members on Sunday in Cape Coast in the Central Region at a unity walk organized by the party.
The former president’s comments have however, failed to evade the eagle eyes of some critics on social media who have accused him of referring to President Akufo-Addo and his appointees as pigs. Some of the critics have chastised the former head of state and asked him to crawl back into his shell.
Mr. Dogbe’s Facebook post on Monday explains that the former president was only giving an example to show the equivalence between Mr. Ayisi-Boateng’s comments and the behavior of the pigs in the famous novel.
Extract of Post
In the meantime, the minority has given an ultimatum to Mr. Ayisi-Boateng to resign or the president should sack him or face their [minority] next line of action.
Speaking on Joy News TV’s UPFRONT programme, Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said they would resort parliamentary procedures to have the High Commissioner removed if he fails to resign.
Mahama did not compare Akufo-Addo and appointees to pigs – Stan Dogbe
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