Award winning Ghanaian actor, John Dumelo has clarified that his radio interview in which he is reported to have asked Ghanaians to give the President time to resolve the nation’s socio-economic challenges have been misconstrued.
In a post on his Facebook page, Dumelo said: “To whom it may concern: my sentiments expressed on an Accra based FM station have totally been misread and misconstrued.”
John Dumelo has come under fire for stating that Ghanaians are putting undue pressure on President John Mahama to fix the economic challenges.
He is quoted as saying, “We should just give him [Mahama] time to solve the problems. The problems are there but it’s four years; Rome wasn’t built in a day… and if after 2016 the problems are not solved, then we know what to do.”
“But I think a lot of people are putting pressure on him and it’s not as if he doesn’t want to solve the problems; he does so we should just give him time.”
His comments angered a lot of social media users who claimed that his comments have given credence to the fact that he is an avid supporter of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) following an advert he did for the President during the 2012 campaign period.
In his post however, the under fire actor admitted that he indeed shot a commercial for the NDC, but was quick to add that he did so because “I loved the message they preached.”
“I must state here that it was purely voluntary. I wasn’t paid for that and I wasn’t expected to be paid for that. I did it for the love of the country,” he added.
According to him, there have been several insults and threats on his life after the said radio interview which he insists was “completely taken out of context.”
Dumelo stressed that he feels the effects the effects on the power crisis on Ghanaians because he has also been forced to lay off 20 of his workers while two of his companies have also be closed down due to the economic crisis.
“I feel the workers pain. You think I’m happy laying off my workers? You think I’m happy running a company at a loss? I’m not. As at now I still don’t have a generator in my house. I sweat at night and I’m sure we all do,” he said.
He added that citizens should “give the current government till 2016 to fix the problems, that’s all I said. I feel what everyone else is going through. The problems have to solved for Ghana to move forward. As for the insults and death threats, it’s made me a better person. Long live Ghana! #dumsormuststop.”
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana