Former President, Jerry John Rawlings has rebuked Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hanna Tetteh, describing her as “impatient.”
Jerry Rawlings on Wednesday scolded Hanna Tetteh for walking out of the just ended Conference of the World Mayors in Accra on Monday.
Something Mr. Rawlings said she did because he insisted that the Vice President, Kwesi Amissah-Arthur should read the keynote address on behalf of the President.
Though Jerry Rawlings was told that Hanna Tetteh had been delegated to read the speech, he [Rawlings] questioned such decision and insisted that per protocol procedures, the Vice President must be allowed to read the speech.
The former President narrated the incident to the World Mayors on Wednesday when he was given the opportunity to address the Conference.
“I was told that the President was not coming to the start of the Conference. Instead he had delegated the Foreign Minister to come and represent him. So I said, he can’t do that. We have the Vice President here. Protocol is such that if [President Mahama] cannot do it he should ask his vice president to come and open the conference, not his foreign minister. I tried to call the President and he called back and I told him that we have a Vice President on the ground and he cannot send his foreign minister [to represent him]. He probably wasn’t told that the Vice President was [here], and he said sorry,” he narrated.
“I am known for talking about embarrassing situations because I don’t want repetitions. When we were there, the foreign minister turns up and says hello to everybody and tells the mayor that we should start the conference. But the Mayor told her that President has said she should give her speech to the Vice President. But she said, I have a paper to deliver so lets start the conference. I was holding my phone and listening. Fortunately, the mayor stood his ground and made sure we waited for the Vice-President,” he added,.
Hanna Tetteh reportedly left the conference after she wasn’t allowed to give her speech which was taken from her and given to the Vice President.
“The President sends his Vice President to order the thing to start and we have to wait for him. She doesn’t even have the patience to wait and sit and join the meeting. She packs up and go because she can’t open it,” the former President revealed.
Mr Rawlings noted that though President John Mahama is humble, some characters around him are too troublesome and warned him to be cautious.
“Humility is very important when you hold office. It’s not everything that the President does agree with or that I like. But you cannot take away from him, his humble way of doing things, his likable nature. I’m afraid some of the characters around him have a problem,” President Rawlings said. This sort of disrespect is not acceptable”
He also charged the citizenry to hold their leaders accountable and not to stay aloof.
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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey and Edwin Kwakofi /citifmonline.com/Ghana