Accra, March 31, GNA - Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Tuesday strongly denied a newspaper story that claimed he pulled a gun on former President Jerry John Rawlings during an alleged row at the Castle, Osu, describing it as "absolutely false".

He said the story that appeared in the Free Expression newspaper was not only "absolutely false", but "a figment" of the journalist who authored it.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Tuesday, Vice President Mahama deplored the import of the story as it sought to impugn his honour.

The Free Expression banner story, carried in its March 30, 2009 issue, had sought to create the impression that the Osu Castle had been turned into a "battle field" where feuding members of the ruling NDC settled their petty scores.

The story authored by the chief editor of the paper, Kwaku Yeboah, claimed that in one such altercation on March 8, 2009, Vice President Mahama pulled a pistol at the former President, threatening to kill him for invectives he was alleged to have uttered against the Vice President.

But the Vice President said no such event ever occurred at the Castle.

Besides, the Vice President made it clear that he was not at the Castle on the day in question, rendering the whole story a wild imagination on the part of the author.

According to Vice President Mahama, he had met with President Rawlings only three times since January 7, 2009.

These meetings, he listed, included the swearing-in ceremony at the Independence Square, the Sessional Address to Parliament by President John Evans Atta Mills and on March 30, 2009, during the National Executive Council meeting of the NDC.

To a question as to why anybody could run such a story on him, Vice President Mahama said the probable import of the writer was to create the impression that there was confusion in the ruling party. He said any such impressions that there was disharmony within the NDC were manifestly false.

He said like other political entities, members of the NDC do profess different shades of opinion, but such divergence in opinion could never be construed as confusion.

Vice President Mahama said he was most surprised about the aspect of the story that created the impression that he possessed weapons. "I do not possess a weapon. I have never possessed a weapon and I do not know how to use a weapon," he protested.

Responding to a question as to whether there is a grudge between himself and the former President, Vice President Mahama responded in the negative, saying in very clear terms his fondness for him.

"I would never disrespect the former President" he underlined. "I respect him very much", Vice President said of the President Rawlings, recalling how the former President gave him the opportunity to serve as a Deputy Minister and subsequently as a full minister, for which reasons he would forever remain grateful to him.

"He (President Rawlings) gave me the opportunity to become a minister and I would never, never disrespect him," he emphasized. The Vice President, nonetheless, agreed that there are times that the two differ on certain issues but that would not degenerate into bad blood as they both respect each other in glowing terms.