Dan Kwaku Yeboah, a sports journalist, has expressed surprise at the negative response he received after asking former President John Mahama to return all gifts he had received.
He claimed that some individuals attacked him in a variety of ways simply for expressing his viewpoint on a matter of national importance.
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“They’ve washed me like galamsey pit,” he said while speaking on the Ekwanso Dwoodwoo programme on Peace FM, as quoted by Ghanaweb.
“…on the same platform, we talk about Nana Addo, we talked about the health minister and we’ve talked about many people but how come, the ex-gratia has become an issue?
“We didn’t even mean evil; we were just saying that Togbe Afede has done it, so he should just follow. For things like this, they are bound to happen because they add up to our democracy.”
Kwaku Yeboah’s statement that Mahama must return every ex-gratia payment he has ever received to demonstrate his commitment to ending such payments made headlines last week.
He stated that if the ex-gratia recipient takes action to return it, he will run for flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Kwaku Yeboah asserted that Mahama must set an example to demonstrate that he truly means what he says on Accra-based Peace FM.
“You said it in 2015, the time you were in government, but you couldn’t scrap it, now that you’re on the bench (in opposition) you want to scrap what? Bring the ones that you’ve taken to set an example of what you’re saying,” the sports journalist said.
“If the former president brings his ex-gratia, Kwame I will campaign for him, I will clap for him. Let him say he’s doing what Togbe Afede did, so he’s also doing the same…Kwame this is a big campaign message.
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“I wanted him to set an example, actions speak louder than words….Togbe Afede is a human being, and Mahama is also a human being, so why not return it as Togbe Afede did?”
His remarks followed Mahama’s announcement of his presidential campaign in the Volta Region, where he pledged to end ex-gratia payments to Article 71 executives if elected.
