“If I was to get up to make a comment about northerners or Gonjas, you can imagine the uproar that will be in the country,” President Akufo Addo stated as he bemoaned how former president John Dramani Mahama had been spared for tagging Akyems as sakawa boys.
Addressing the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference at the Jubilee House on Friday August 4, Akufo Addo noted that he was “very disturbed” by the ethnocentric comments insisting “that is the kind of language we don’t want in our politics.”
Former president John Dramani Mahama had shared on Facebook a post by MP, Isaac Adongo which referred to the President and his townsfolk as ‘Akyem Mafia’ and ‘Sakawa’ people.
In reaction, President Akufo Addo said “sometimes, one would hope when things come out, people will comment on them. The comment made by my opponent: ‘Akyem Sakawa’ people, I have not heard any public figure in this country or anybody comment on it.”
He added, “If you criticise the government, no matter what you say, it is legitimate. If the government is to respond, that is somehow illegitimate…..“If the President opens his mouth and says something that is unacceptable, he should be reprimanded. In the same way, opposition politicians, if they conduct themselves by their utterances in an unacceptable manner, they should be brought to book.”
Source: GhanaFeed.com