Reeling under accusations from some top brass of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that he has sidelined all the experienced and ‘wise men’ in the party and thus running a one-man-show administration…,
….President John Mahama (JM) has categorically denied the charge insisting that he is still “the affable, accessible, humble and down to earth person” known by all and sundry across the political divide.
According to the President, he still has at the back of his mind how all the kingpins of the party had tirelessly labored day and night; dusk and dawn to get him elected as President, therefore, will not do anything to create any frosty relationship between the government and the party.
Even though the President still maintained that some decisions are his sole prerogative, he noted that, considering the importance of the grass roots and the experience of the “grandfathers” of the party, it would not just be suicidal to his performance as President, but a slap on the face of millions of party loyalists who reposed confidence in him to advance the Better Ghana Agenda, to begin to ignore the party in the scheme of affairs.
Vehemently denying the allegations in an interview with The Al-Hajj, a close aide to the President noted that “the President does not take decisions on his own… his decisions are based on wider consultations with all segments of the party…the fact that someone made a recommendation to the President and it was not implemented does not mean he does not engage in consultations? The President cannot take all recommendations.”
The President’s aide, who spoke on strict condition of anonymity, stated that, for the first time in the political annals of the Fourth Republic, the President has met the Council of Elders and the Political Committee of the NDC in less than three months into office.
“This alone tells you the kind of accessible and affable man we have as the leader of our party and President of Ghana…his doors are widely opened to all who wants to meet him…I can tell you for a fact that, all the big men in the party who wants to meet the President are granted audience by the President; either in his house or at the office,” the aide added.
Touching on the appointments of Ministers and Deputy Ministers, which the President’s accusers are basing their disenchantment and alienation on, the President’s aide explained that, the President allows all the stakeholders of the party to present their list of people to be considered for such positions, adding “base on the necessary consultations as required by the 1992 Constitution, he puts out who he thinks can best execute the government’s vision of building a Better Ghana for all out of the list presented by the big men in the party.”
Just last week, The Al-Hajj carried a story on how some leading members of the ruling party are re-grouping into blocs to fashion out effective ways of getting a resolute and formidable candidate to dethrone the President for exhibiting some domestic dictatorial tendencies within the NDC party particularly in using appointments of ministers and deputy ministers to instill fear and extract loyalty for his person from his appointees.