The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), has asked President John Dramani Mahama to apologise for comments  he made on a campaign platform at Lawra in the Upper West Region which were deemed ethnocentric by a section of the public.
Mahama’s had said at the rally that Dr Mahamamudu Bawumia could never lead the New Patriotic Party  as presidential candidate (NPP) because Bawumia was a Northerner, adding that he [Mahama] pitied Northerners who were calling for change.
But a statement issued in Accra on Monday, the MFWA condemned his comments as divisive.
“The MFWA considers the comments of President Mahama highly divisive and unfortunate and condemns same in no uncertain terms. As a leader of the country, President Mahama is expected to act in ways that will unite rather than divide the people of this country,†it said.
The organisation urged the president to apologise for his remarks, adding that politicians must circumspect in their utterances.
Read the full statement below:
Prez Mahama’s Comments: Ethnocentric, Divisive and Condemnable Over the weekend, while campaigning in the Upper West Region, the President of Ghana and leader of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), His Excellency John Dramani Mahama opted to use very ethnocentric and divisive campaign language.
The President, while addressing party supporters in Lawra as part of his campaign tour of the Region, made comments to suggest that the New Patroitic Party (NPP) only “uses northerners†to win power and “dump†them afterwards. The President alleged that if vice-presidential candidate of the NPP Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia decides to contest as presidential candidate in the NPP, he is likely to be rejected by the party.
He then went on to cite the NPP presidential race in 2008 in which 16 other candidates contested the then vice-president of the erstwhile President Kuffour administration, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, for the Presidential candidacy of the party.
President Mahama also alleged that unlike the NPP, the NDC gives everyone the chance to ascend to the high office including northerners and it is that opportunity in the NDC that has made it possible for him to become president after the demise of the late President, John Evans Atta Mills.
The MFWA considers the comments of President Mahama highly divisive and unfortunate and condemns same in no uncertain terms. As a leader of the country, President Mahama is expected to act in ways that will unite rather than divide the people of this country.
The MFWA therefore calls on the President to publicly apologise for his comments. We take this opportunity to urge other political figures to avoid the use of hate speech, ethnocentric and divisive comments in their political campaigns.