The Ashanti regional Chairman for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Bernard Antwi-Boasiako has said that anybody who believes in a campaign promise by former President John Mahama is setting him or herself up to be a “fool”.
His comments stems on the back of sharp you-turn by the former President that it is silly by Ghanaians to demand he returns all ex-gratia he has received after he declared that if given the opportunity to rule again, he would scrap the payment of ex-gratia.
The NPP Chairman popularly known as Chairman Wontumi in an interview with Wontumionline.com, stated that Mr. Mahama is damaging his already “rotten reputation” by not by being straightforward on his stance on the payment of ex-gratia.
“This is shameless man who has stopped his wife from returning to state coffers the monies she is illegally keeping. How can anybody believe in such a dubious character if he talks about scrapping of ex-gratia payments? If he wants credibility, he should first return all the ex-gratia he has taken in the past and tell the state to stop paying him”.
“With his latest comment about not being prepared to return all the ex-gratia he has received, it means anybody who believes in any single promise from Mahama is setting up him or herself to be a fool”, Chairman Wontumi said.
Former president John Dramani Mahama has questioned the logic behind calls for him to refund his ex-gratia following his promise to cancel the existing emolument structure for Article 71 Office Holders when he comes back to power.
According to Mr Mahama, he rather finds it mindless for his critics including some people with legal backgrounds to demand such a retrospective action which runs contrary to the constitution.