Alhaji Bature Iddrissu, Managing Editor of the Al Hajj Newspaper has revealed that he was not comfortable with certain comments, analogies and actions taken by former President John Dramani Mahama prior to and after exiting power.
Prominent among the comments he revealed was the infamous “dead goat syndrome ” comment in Botswana and the “Lame Horse” comment in the heat of the blame game over who actually was responsible for the party’s abysmal performance in the 2016 general elections.
“Ex-President Mahama’s ‘lame horse’ comment was wrong. I disagreed with him, it was wrong. I did not support it and I expected he should not have said it at all. There were so many things he said I did not agree including the “Dead Goat”.
I supported him when he vowed that if the failure to restore teacher trainee allowances will make him lose the election he was all out for it.
But later when I heard they had made a sudden U-turn and were making the payments, I was disappointed. I supported him when he spoke in parliament that if fixing the power situation will make him lose an election then he was prepared for it.
That is a courageous person and an indication he was not bent on staying in power. He is a human being and makes mistakes just like any of us here”, he revealed.
According to him, attempts by former President Jerry John Rawlings to paint his administration as a demonic one will not be tolerated in spite of some lapses which are human of everyone.
Former President John Mahama during a meeting with Ghanaian residents in Botswana in March 2015, said he has become impervious to threats of strikes and demonstrations in Ghana and will not yield to any of such threats in the upcoming election year.
Adopting what he calls a “dead-goat syndrome”, the President said he would not be hoodwinked by such strategies by workers.
“I have seen more demonstrations and strikes in my first two years. I don’t think it can get worse. It is said that when you kill a goat and you frighten it with a knife, it doesn’t fear the knife because it is dead already. “I have a dead goat syndrome”, he was quoted as saying.