Former President John Dramani Mahama has revealed that he decided to withdraw from the Independence Day Celebration because the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has turned it into a political jamboree.
“I said I don’t want to be part of this party jamboree. Independence is a solemn national celebration that is celebrated at Independence Square and everybody could come. Today, they bus their supporters in, they have party flags and they are wearing party T-Shirts, I don’t want to be part of the party jamboree,” he said.
The Former President made this known on Sunday at the 5th Anniversary Dinner and Awards Night of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Professional Forum (ProForum) in Accra.
He continued that,not only has the celebration become a “party Jamboree” but there was also no need to fund this year’s celebration in the face of current economic hardship.
He also alleged that when he attended the Independence Day celebration in Tamale a few years ago, the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) camera crew was told not to film him and was given a seat outside the dais.
He stated that he will always attend the Independence Day celebrations if they are characterised by a sense of nationalism that the event has always been associated with.
According to Mr. Mahama, “Nkrumah got us independence, I am an Nkrumahist, I will attend an Independence Day anniversary any day if it is not hijacked by one party, it is a national day for all of us and so I am not going to be there because I don’t want to be part of an NPP Jamboree. You watch what will happen; they will bus their people there and occupy the whole place.”
As a result, he has emphasised the need for the government to rather obtain all unavailable vaccines for child immunisation as soon as possible, in order to prevent the resuscitation of childhood diseases in the near future.
“As Prof Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang said, today if you’re a mother and you take your child to the hospital for vaccination, three of the vaccines are short for the first time since the Fourth Republic. And as long as they don’t get it, the diseases are going to start spreading again and we’re going to celebrate 66 years of independence? You can celebrate it. I am not going to be part of it,” he added.
