Former President Jerry John Rawlings has expressed regret using comments he finds derogatory on successors John Agyekum Kufuor and John Mahama while addressing chiefs and people of Mepe from the North Tongu Constituency in the Volta Region last Tuesday.

The delegation had paid a courtesy call on him to officially invite him to the final funeral rites of Mamaga Awusi Sreku II, Queenmother of the Mepe Traditional Area.

Addressing the delegation, Rawlings said: “I know with my integrity when I die, I will go to heaven but when I see these corrupt leaders, I will ask permission from God and flog them”, referring to Mr Kufuor and Mr Mahama.

“If they don’t leave heaven for me, I will go and leave the heavens and join Satan in hell because I cannot stay in the same place with them,” he added.

[L-R] John Rawlings, John Kufuor, Nana Akufo-Addo and John Mahama after the meeting
Mr Rawlings’s comments have since been carried far and wide by the media but a statement from his office on Monday said he “has taken due note of concerns raised over certain publications arising out of a meeting he held with a delegation of chiefs and elders from Mepe in the Volta Region last Tuesday”.

“The former President apologises to former Presidents John Agyekum Kufuor and John Dramani Mahama for the choice of words. He deems the words as inappropriate and withdraws them,” the statement added.