Former President John Dramani has rebuffed claims by the traditional authorities of Upper Axim that he deliberately snubbed them during his campaign tour of the Western Region ahead of the NDC’s primaries.

According to the former President, his inability to visit that part of the region should not be interpreted as a deliberate act but rather strict adherence to the itinerary that was prepared by regional and constituency executives of the NDC in consultation with the campaign team and thus appealed to them to regard it as such.

Below is the full statement

RE: “WHY DID YOU SNUB US?” – UPPER AXIM TRADITIONAL LEADERS ASK MAHAMA

The attention of the John Mahama Campaign has been drawn to an online publication on the above subject matter. We wish to respond as follows:

i. that the itinerary of former President John Dramani Mahama’s five-day flagbearership campaign tour of the Western Region was drawn by the regional and constituency executives of the party in consultation with the campaign team;

ii. that the itinerary took Mr Mahama to all constituencies in the Western Region;

iii. that Mr Mahama honoured all programmes on his itinerary;

iv. that in line with the official itinerary, Mr Mahama paid a courtesy call on a number of chiefs in the Western Region during his campaign tour of the Western Region;

v. that at no point was Mr Mahama scheduled to visit Upper Axim, at least not according to his official itinerary for the just-ended tour especially as there was no such scheduled visit to Upper Axim; viii.

vi. that on basis of the foregoing, it is not correct that the former president refused to attend a durbar of chiefs held purposely to welcome him to the area; and

vii. that the traditional authorities in Upper Axim have not in any way offended Mr Mahama. We wish to seize this opportunity to thank the regional and constituency executives of Western Region as well as delegates, members and supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for showing up in their numbers to meet and interact with Mr Mahama. . ***END**

JAMES AGYENIM-BOATENG

SPOKESPERSON

THURSDAY, 10TH JANUARY 2019 ACCRA.