Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has replied his predecessor, JJ Rawlings whom he said recently made “damning” comment about him.
Mr Rawlings had suggested during a meeting with some elders and chiefs from Mepe in the Volta Region last Tuesday that former presidents Mr Kufuor and John Mahama are evil and did not deserve to be in Heaven.
He had called the two ex-presidents corrupt saying, “I know with my integrity when I die, I will go to heaven but when I see these corrupt leaders, I will ask permission from God and flog them.”
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“If they don’t leave heaven for me, I will go and leave the heavens and join Satan in hell because I cannot stay in the same place with them,” Mr Rawlings added.
However, on Monday, Mr Rawlings’s Communication Directorate, Kobina Andoh Amoakwa, issued a release apologizing for the comments and asked for forgiveness from the two statesmen.
Mr Mahama and Rawlings
“The former president apologises to former Presidents John Agyekum Kufuor and John Dramani Mahama for the choice of words. He deems the words as inappropriate and withdraws them,” the statement concluded.
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But in a sharp reaction, the office of former president Kufuor replied saying although it accepts the apology, Mr Kufuor had some records to straight.
In the letter signed by Dr Kwabena Osei Adubofour Monday, Mr Kufour rebuffed claims by Mr Rawlings about diverting state property saying “he never divested any state property to himself or his family members.”
He explained that all “the divestiture of state properties and enterprises that took place during his tenure in office was done legally and according to laid-down procedures, rules, and regulations, and to the utmost benefit of the people of Ghana.”
According to Mr Kufuor he never tried to unduly influence the promotion or appointment into the security services, more so, based on tribal consideration.
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He stressed that in his government policies, he never used tribalism in serving the regions and tribes of Ghana.
The former president also explained that as to the creation of the medal the Order of the Black Star and Eagles of Ghana, he believes that it is the prerogative of the president of the state to make and he as such.
“President Nkrumah had created all the others upon Ghana attaining independence,” he added.