President John Dramani Mahama has disclosed he resumed work immediately after burying his mother because that was what his mother would have wanted.

Mr Mahama, after burying his mother Abiba Nnaba on Friday 17 June, travelled to the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region on Saturday 18 June to be part of the school’s maiden graduation ceremony, raising concerns from his sympathisers as to why he would resume work a day after his mother’s burial.

At a gathering with market women in Madina, as part of his Accounting to the People Tour of the Greater Accra region on Tuesday June 21, the president expressed his gratitude to Ghanaians for mourning with him when his mother died and disclosed he had to resume work immediately because his mother would want that.

“I thank you for mourning with me during the funeral of my mother. I should have been here last week but had to postpone it due to my mother’s death. … People keep asking me why I resumed work just a day after burying my mother, but I told them Ghanaians have given me a mandate and my mother, if she were alive, would have encouraged me to go back to work. Anytime I visited her when she was ill, she advised me to go back to work because the people of Ghana had given me a job to do”, he stated.

Class News’ Atiewin Mbillah, who was with the president, reported that the market women appealed to the president to bring back the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC). They argued that times were hard for them and a number of them were the bread winners of their families and as a result, would want a means to access finance in order for them to run their businesses.

As part of activities in the capital, Mr Mahama was expected to hold a presidential forum for small- and medium-scale enterprises and inspect ongoing major projects, including the Nima drain and the Ridge Hospital.

He was also to inaugurate a bus rapid transport terminal at Ofankor.