A leading member of the People�s National Convention (PNC) says President John Dramani Mahama's Regional tour to thank the people for their contribution towards the final funeral rites of the late President Mills is at best a clever ruse to campaign for votes in the upcoming December polls.
Abu Ramadan contends that the �Thank You� tour is simply a farce since no immediate member of the bereaved family is part of the entourage.
President Mahama�s �Thank You� tour follows the overwhelming support government received from Ghanaians during the funeral and burial rites of the late President Mills on August 10.
President Mills died on July 24 at the 37 Military Hospital after being taken ill.
Mr Mahama has come under incessant public backlash with some saying his recent nationwide �Presidential Broadcast� on television and the letters of appreciation written by the Funeral Planning Committee and that of Former First Lady, Naadu Mills� family to Ghanaians were enough.
But the president has stoutly defended the rationale behind his regional �Thank You� tour insisting it is in consonance with Ghanaian culture and tradition. To him, it is improper to go on air or use the phone to thank people who had contributed immensely in the performance of the funeral rites of the late President.
According to him, custom demands that �if some people come to sympathise with you in your times of grief, you are supposed to walk to the people to thank them for their support.�
�Traditionally when somebody helps you to perform a funeral of a departed one, it is only fair that you thank the fellow, and so my tours are justified and Ghanaian,� President Mahama said in response to what some critics have said about the tour.
However, contributing to discussions on Peace FM�s �Kokrokoo� Morning Show, the PNC activist said it is bizarre for anyone to weep more than the bereaved. Wondering why neither Mrs Naadu Mills nor President Mills� only son, Samuel Atta Mills is not part of the regional entourage, he posited that �friends can�t go round expressing gratitude to sympathizers on your behalf without the bereaved members in attendance�.
Abu Ramadan, who is the PNC's National Youth Organiser further opined that per the country�s customary practice, it is the bereaved family that goes about expressing gratitude for the show of support and sympathy accorded them during their period of bereavement.
He added that if truly the president is on a �Thank You� tour as the NDC might want Ghanaians to believe, then he has to extend the tour outside the country.
�President Mahama should extend his �Thank You� tour to foreign leaders and nationals who attended the funeral of the late president�extending the tour to all mourners from far and near will then justify and prove that he is embarking on the Thank You tour in good faith,� he said.
In a related development, President Mahama, on Friday, stormed the Brong Ahafo region with his 'Thank You Tour'. According to reports, the President was mobbed at the Sunyani Airport by ecstatic crowd trying to catch a glimpse of him and to hear what he had to say.
The 'Thank You Tour' has already taken President Mahama to the Western, Central, Volta and Eastern Regions where he has been interacting with the chiefs and people.
President Mahama is being accompanied by the Chief of Staff, John Henry Martey-Newman, Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Hannah Bissiw, the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister and other government officials.
The President will move his ongoing �Thank You� tour to the Upper West region on Saturday.
Source: Beatrice Adepa Frempong/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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