Former President John Dramani Mahama has strongly condemned Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, the running mate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), for his derogatory comments about the late President John Evans Atta Mills.
In a recent video, Dr. Prempeh, popularly known as Napo referred to President Mills as “the one who died,” seemingly forgetting his name. This incident follows a previous controversy where Dr. Prempeh made comments about Dr. Kwame Nkrumah that were widely considered disrespectful.
Addressing the issue at a community engagement in the Adaklu Constituency of the Volta Region, Mr. Mahama said, “he can’t hide his arrogance. I was just watching a video yesterday, and he was talking about the past president. He said Rawlings, and he said Kufuor, and somehow he even forgot Professor Mills’ name, and then he said, ‘That one who died’.”
Mr. Mahama described Dr. Prempeh’s comments as “very disrespectful, very insulting” and added, “Arrogance is like pregnancy. Whatever you do, it will come out.”
The former president emphasized the importance of respecting the dead, saying, “You can insult me because I can respond because I am alive, but in our tradition, you don’t say evil things about the dead. You don’t disrespect the dead because they are not alive to respond to you.”
Dr. Prempeh’s comments have sparked outrage, with many Ghanaians taking to social media to express their disappointment and disgust.