‘Former Prez Mahama took personal decision to concede 2016 defeat’
The Office of former President John Dramani Mahama has said that his decision to concede defeat in the 2016 presidential election even before the official results were declared was taken by himself without any persuasion from any quarter.
“It is public knowledge that President Mahama willingly announced his decision to accept the outcome of the 2016 elections and congratulated Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo even before the official results were formally declared by the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission.”
Advertisement
A statement issued by the former Chief of Staff to the former President, Mr Julius Debrah, made reference to a video recording of an address by the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, at the UN High Level Forum on the Culture of Peace, which seemed to suggest that former President Mahama had to be persuaded to concede defeat in the 2016 presidential election.
Events of the day
On the day, President Mahama willingly conceded defeat, the statement said, he met with then Vice-President Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Chairman, Mr Kofi Portuphy; the General Secretary of the NDC, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, together with some high-ranking members of the party and informed them of his decision to call and congratulate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
“Following the meeting with the party, he called a number of personalities, including President Jerry John Rawlings, President John Agyekum Kufuor, the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Nuhu Sharubutu, Rev. Ernest Agyei of the Ringway Assemblies of God Church and Archbishop Nicholas Duncan Williams.”
The statement said former President Mahama made a commitment to the people of Ghana, never to be the one to subject them to the periods of unease, political instability and the doubts they experienced after the 2008 and 2012 elections.
It said the Asantehene had over the years been a very respected interlocutor in Ghana's multiparty political engagements and that he had been generous in his wise counsel to present and former Presidents.
