The Aliu Mahama Foundation has expressed regret over comments it describes as a betrayal and a stab in the back by veteran Ghanaian journalist, Alhaji Haruna Attah.
Haruna Attah, who is Ghana’s ambassador to Namibia wrote in an article that the 2016 New Patriotic Party (NPP) Presidential candidate Nana Akufo-Addo said there was no possibility of Aliu Mahama becoming an NPP presidential candidate because he was from the North.
“Haruna, your support for Aliu was flawed. If you think our party will cede its Akan leadership, you are wrong,” Haruna Atta alleged the Nana AKufo-Addo said.
“I shared a lot of private moments with the late Vice President and he often poured his lamentations about the politics of the system to me,” Mr Attah said in the article.
But according to the late Vice President’s Foundation, the comments were “irritating and backward.”
“Alhaji Haruna Atta should respect the memory of Alhaji Aliu Mahama, not out of fear, but because it is the proper human thing to do. He should allow the gentle soul of the late Alhaji Aliu Mahama to rest in peace. The Foundation would not want to be drawn into the political space by the kind of misrepresentation that some section of the Ghanaian public finds convenient for their political gains,” the statement said.
The late Aliu Mahama died in November 2012 at the age of 66 from a heart-related condition and complications from a stroke. His foundation, founded in 2011 contributes towards addressing health challenges and poverty alleviation in Ghana.
Read the full statement below:
RESPECT THE MEMORY OF ALIU MAHAMA – Aliu Mahama Foundation
It has come to the notice of Aliu Mahama Foundation that a senior member of the Ghanaian society is peddling falsehood against the memory of Alhaji Aliu Mahama. The Foundation finds it extremely disturbing that Alhaji Haruna Atta would lie about a faithful Ghanaian servant just to advance a political mileage. This betrayal and back stabbing behavior exhibited by a senior member of the journalism industry is irritating and backward.
The Foundation would like to put on record that Alhaji Aliu Mahama never had any issue of ethnocentrism against him or in his favor throughout his public life until his passing. There was never a situation where he was favored or discriminated against because of his ethnic background. He believed that politics or election is an issue of lose of win hence he accepted the results of 2007 NPP primaries in good faith. His competence and achievements speaks volume of quality of man he was. Alhaji Aliu Mahama served this nation as Vice President, through the political party he was affiliated to, with dignity and utmost commitment.
Alhaji Haruna Atta should respect the memory of Alhaji Aliu Mahama, not out of fear, but because it is the proper human thing to do. He should allow the gentle soul of the late Alhaji Aliu Mahama to rest in peace. The Foundation would not want to be drawn into the political space by the kind of misrepresentation that some section of the Ghanaian public finds convenient for their political gains.
Aliu Mahama Foundation focuses on championing greater discipline and preserving the blessed memory and legacy of the late Alhaji Aliu Mahama. Death leaves a heartache no one can heal.
Signed
Dr. Samuel K. Frimpong
Executive Director – Aliu Mahama Foundation
Former Aide to the late Alhaji Aliu Mahama
0244507731 or 0209228094
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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana