Editor-in-Chief of the Al-hajj Newspaper and staunch National Democratic Congress (NDC) sympathiser, Bature Iddrisu says President John Mahama has been able to “clip the wings of the greedy bustards” in the NDC.

Bature told XYZ Breakfast show host Moro Awudu Monday that the president, since his election into office, has been able to warm himself into the party’s founder, Jerry Rawlings, by asserting his independence of the “greedy bastards” in the party, who, virtually, run the government during the administration of late President Mills.

According to Bature, unlike late John Mills, President Mahama, has been able to exude “positive neutrality” and emasculated the influence of the “greedy bastards” who were perceived to have hijacked the Mills administration.

“…You’ll notice that since his inauguration on January 7, President Mahama has been able to demonstrate some level of independence, unlike his predecessor, where people believed that there were some people who were calling the shots around him,” Bature pointed out.

He said: “…If you look at the people who were then managing the former president - the late Mills - you’ll notice that most of them are not enthused; they are not happy because they feel ‘marginalised and sidelined”.

Former President Rawlings, who was the first to describe late Mills’ close aides and confidantes as “greedy bastards”, told President Mahama, bluntly, on Saturday that he needed to put his foot down to clear the “crookish monsters” from his Government.

He warned that there are “bad ones” and “greedy crooks” around the President who could bring the entire presidency down if Mr. Mahama delayed in getting rid of them.

Bature, whose paper, a couple of weeks ago, predicted that Rawlings could “boom” over how the country was being run at the Presidency, said on Monday that although the former President appears content with the President for neutralising the powers and influence of the “greedy bastards” who perceptibly hijacked the Mills administration, he nonetheless has reservations with the Mahama administration, thus his recent outburst about the festering “cancer of corruption” at the Presidency.

“…We know that he is not also enthused when it comes to consultation because there’s nothing showing that his concerns have been taken on board…but he is a bit relieved that Mahama has been able to, as it were, clip the wings of those “greedy bastards” he’s been talking [about] all the four years”, Bature noted.