[ 2016-11-24 ]

Aliu Foundation calls Haruna Attah 'betrayer, backstabber'
Ghana’s Ambassador to Namibia and Botswana,
Alhaji Haruna Attah must stop “betraying” and
“backstabbing” late vice president Alhaji Aliu
Mahama with his “irritating and backward”
claims that the late politician was discriminated
against by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) because
he was a northerner, the Alhaji Aliu Mahama
Foundation has warned.

A statement issued by the Foundation in reference
to the veteran journalist-turned-politician’s
claim in another statement that Alhaji Aliu Mahama
was prevented from succeeding former president
John Kufuor as flag bearer of the NPP because of
the party’s aversion to northerners said:
“This betrayal and backstabbing behaviour
exhibited by a senior member of the journalism
industry is irritating and backward.”

According to Mr Attah, President John Mahama’s
recent assertion that the NPP only uses
northerners and dumps them is a truism. Parrying
criticism of the president’s comment from the
Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), the
former NPP member, who is now serving in the
Mahama administration, said: “And if I may ask,
what is wrong with that?

“The president was only stating an obvious and
historical fact known to many people with a sound
knowledge of Ghana’s politics since
independence,” he added.

Describing Mr Mahama as a noble man who he must
defend, Mr Attah said: “After almost 20
presidential aspirants ran against late vice
president Alhaji Aliu Mahama in the NPP’s
presidential primaries in 2007 when Mr John Kufuor
was leaving office after serving two terms, Mr
Aliu Mahama “with much humility, conceded to
Nana Akufo-Addo who emerged winner, sort of…

“I do recollect very clearly, as if it happened
only yesterday, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
invited me to his office at Ridge near the offices
of the Electoral Commission. I honoured the
invitation, not knowing what to expect. The
outcome was one of the most revealing encounters I
have ever had with a Ghanaian politician. He
raised a number of issues and concluded on my
“support” for the late vice president. On
that, this is what he told me.

“The words have been indelibly etched on my
conscience: ‘Harruna, your support for Aliu was
flawed. If you think our party will cede its Akan
leadership, you are wrong.’ He went on to
expatiate on the theme, but with my mind reeling
at this blatant and brazen ethnocentricity,
nothing else really mattered to me again. When I
left, I confided in a few people, mainly family
and friends, as witnesses. I received all manner
of suggestions on how to handle this
‘bombshell’ and indeed one family member high
up in the NPP even suggested that I take it up
with President Kufuor. The frightening fundamental
message was clear: No non-Akan should dream of
leading the NPP as presidential candidate.

“Not only that, Mr Hackman Owusu Agyeman, going
beyond Nana Akufo-Addo’s ethnicity, used
religion as his anti-Aliu stance. He confronted me
in the presence of a witness: ‘Abdul-Rahman,
with a nation of about 70% Christians, do you
think it will be fair to have a Muslim
president?’ He was referring to Alhaji Aliu
Mahama, a Muslim. I answered calmly that in all
the major hotspots of the world, it is when some
groups think they are dominant and go on to
marginalise groups they regard as minorities that
the minorities also rise up to assert themselves,
by whatever means.

“Dr Addo-Kufuor, President Kufuor’s brother
had his turn too. At a funeral at the Trade Fair
Centre in Accra, he also railed against my
‘support’ for Aliu and threatened that ‘You
are working yourself out of reckoning in any
future NPP government.’ I replied that history
would vindicate me. I could go on and on…”

However, the Aliu Mahama Foundation said on
Thursday that it “will like to put on record
that Alhaji Aliu Mahama never had any issue of
ethnocentrism against him or in his favour
throughout his public life until his passing.
There was never a situation where he was favoured
or discriminated against because of his ethnic
background.”

The Foundation said Alhaji Mahama’s
“competence and achievement speak volumes of the
quality of the man he was. Alhaji Aliu Mahama
served this nation as the vice president through
the political party he was affiliated to with
dignity and utmost commitment”.

“Alhaji Haruna Attah should respect the memory
of Alhaji Aliu Mahama not out of fear but because
it is the proper human thing to do. He should
allow the gentle soul of the late Alhaji Aliu
Mahama to rest in peace. The Foundation will not
like to be drawn into the politics and political
space by the kind of misrepresentation that some
section of the public finds convenient for
political gains.

The Alhaji Aliu Mahama Foundation “focuses on
championing greater discipline and preserving the
blessed memory and legacy of Alhaji Aliu Mahama.
Death leaves a heartache no one can heal,” the
statement signed by Dr Samuel K. Frimpong,
Executive Director of the foundation said.

Source - Classfmonline

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