Prez Mahama “Regrets” Failure To Acknowledge Akufo-Addo At Odwira.

President John Mahama on Friday, personally expressed regret at the failure by an MC to acknowledge the presence of two-time presidential candidate of the main opposition New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, at the grounds of the Odwira festival celebration in Akropong-Akuapem in the Eastern region.

Mahama himself rectified the error by duly recognising the presence of the former Attorney General when it was time for him [The President] to address the Odwira durbar of chiefs and people of the area.

The festival coincided with the 40th anniversary celebration of the paramount Chief of Akropong-Akuapem, Oseadeeyo Addo Dankwa III.

In remedying the protocol oversight, the President made reference to the Ghanaian maxim, ‘Sankofa’, which could be loosely translated to mean: ‘A retroactive rectification of a mistake isn’t forbidden’, to admonish organisers of such programmes to take the pains to identify and duly acknowledge deserving dignitaries who grace such public functions.

“If we spent just a few minutes before the start of a function, we can identify all the people who deserve acknowledgement so that we don’t always have to sankofa sankofa, and so let me add my regret to the MC of the occasion for missing the acknowledgement of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo”, Mahama said.

He added: “I’m sure when he [MC] was acknowledging the dignitaries here, I believe that people who deserve to be acknowledged must be acknowledged”.

According to him, although event organisers could always ride on the crest of wave of ‘sankofa’ to correct such errors, “I guess we use it too much as an excuse for inefficiency”.

Other prominent people at the festival were former President Jerry Rawlings and his wife.

Source: Starr FM.