Ghana’s former Ambassador to the United States of America H.E. Daniel Ohene Agyekum has come to the defense of the former president John Dramani Mahama over his “Do or Die” comment.
Speaking to host Julius Caesar Anadem on Ultimate FM’s Cup of Tea, the 2020 Election Campaign Chair of the former president argued that diplomacy gives way when violence prevails.
“Diplomacy has a role to play in every relationship but it gets to a point in time where diplomacy is submerged under the sea of violence. What do you do in that context?” he quizzed.
“I am not a violent person. I am a diplomat and I believe in the art of diplomacy in resolving issues. What he has said is a reaction to all the violence that was unleashed on our party supporters and even innocent citizens of this country and nothing has happened,” he added.
The former president has come under huge backlash after insisting, it will be a ‘do or die’ affair as his party readies itself to protect ballots from what he claimed was ballot stuffing and rigging in the 2020 elections.
Speaking in an interview on Techiman-based Akina FM as part of his tour to the Bono East Region, Mr. Mahama pointed out, “The 2024 elections will be won or lost at the polling station. It will be do-or-die at the polling stations. The right thing must be done during the polls. We will win the elections at the polling station and won’t wait for collation centre results nor petition the Supreme Court if aggrieved.”
The 2020 flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress has however defended his comments on Sunyani-based Moonlight FM insisting that persons who had misgivings with his comments lacked understanding of Idiomatic Expressions.
Meanwhile a Linguistics and Communications expert and Head of the Communications department of the Christian Service University College Dr. Anthony Adade Yeboah says the former president continues to create contradictory pictures about his personality by recent comments he keeps making in the media and political platforms.
He told Julius Caesar Anadem, Mr. Mahama should have known better about creating ambiguous meanings as a leader and communications expert worth his salt.
By: Ivan Heathcote – Fumador.