The General Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie has condemned President Mills’ apology to former President Kufuor and the Chief Justice, describing it as “unnecessary” and “needless”.
President John Mills rendered an unqualified apology for his failure to recognize former President John Agyekum Kufuor and Chief Justice Georgina Woode when he acknowledged the presence of dignitaries in Parliament before he delivered his third State of the Nation’s Address to Parliament on Thursday February 17.
President Mills before his address acknowledged the presence of the Speaker of Parliament, Joyce Bamford Addo and Vice President John Mahama, but forgot to mention the CJ, who was seated on the right side on the dais, and the former president who was seated among the dignitaries.
Right after delivering his address, President Mills acknowledged his mistake and stated that it was not deliberate and that it was an oversight arising from his commitment to observe Parliamentary protocol. He promised to follow state protocol the next time he visited Parliament to deliver his State of the Nation’s Address.
Reports indicate that President Mills has personally called former President Kufuor and the Chief Justice to apologise.
However, speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Friday February 18, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie popularly known as Sir John stated that listening to President Mills on Thursday was one of the saddest days in his life.
Sir John urged President Mills to be a real leader and stop listening to “hawks” that have surrounded him and are feeding him with lies and propaganda. “This apology is regrettable and I think that he will regret the things that he did. He should not let the hawks take him over, Mills must be himself, the man will get ill as a result of his demeanour.
Tell him that he needs to be himself instead of behaving the way that he did yesterday. It was wrong and I was amazed that he did that. This apology is needless”.
Asked whether he was impressed with President Mills’ State of the Nation’s Address, Sir John said the President’s performance was “awful” and “pathetic.” He added that the President’s address sounded more like a party address than a national address. “Yesterday’s performance was pathetic and awful and I was not amused at all about his speech,” he maintained.