Former President John Dramani Mahama has admonished President Akufo-Addo to control his temperament in public in order to be seen as a good leader.
Speaking in an interview on TV XYZ, the flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress, (NDC) said the president has no right to be angry over a description of some members of his government as “Akyem Sakawa boys” after he consistently described former presidents with unprintable words when he was in opposition.
“President Akufo-Addo has lost the right to complain a long time ago, he was the opposition leader who called presidents before him anything you can imagine, including ‘professor Do little’ and then he described somebody as ‘simpa panyin’. He is the president who has called his critics naysayers, professional jeremiah’s, I don’t understand on what standard he can be offended at this time because he has a precedence.
“I think that temperaments in leadership is very important and there are many things a president must attend to and you must not appear in public to have lost your cool and I think he should maintain his temperament to come across as a good leader,” Mr Mahama said.
His comments come after President Akufo-Addo complained to Catholic Bishops at a meeting at the Jubilee House after Mr Mahama shared an article by lawmaker Isaac Adongo which used the labelling ‘Akyem Sakawa Boys’ for some individuals in government.
“Archbishop, this name-calling seems to be a feature of Ghanaian public life. But sometimes, when things come out, we would hope that you will comment on them. The comment made by my opponent, “Akyem Sakawa people,” I have not heard any public figure, independent person, yourselves, comment on it. It is completely unacceptable. If I were to get up to make comments about Northerners or Gonjas, you can imagine the uproar that would be in the country.
“Presidential candidate, a former President of Ghana, you can call a group of Ghanaians “sakawa people”, and it involves the group for which the sitting President comes, and that statement goes without comment, and at the same time we hear all these statements, let all try and bring the politics of insults to an end,” the President bemoaned.
