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Did Alban Bagbin apologise out of pressure?
The comments have been described by persons with visual and speech impairments as offensive.
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Bagbin is reported to have told party communicators in the Volta Region that former President John Mahama made a bad decision by appointing Dr Edward Omane Boamah as Communications Minister because he stammers.
These are the comments he made:
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"If you are not whole can you be a chief or a queen mother? So when you form a government and make the Minister for Chieftaincy a blind person and the chiefs are objecting and you don’t change it, what are telling the chiefs? These are facts I am stating. I have not added anything. You all know it, but you may not have appreciated the impact of what happened. And when some of us are close and can forsee it and we see it, then you are somewhere and you are telling people to insult us.
"It is not a chief that speaks, it is a linguist. So if you are a leader you must have a very good linguist. When Prof [Evans Atta Mills] was in power, Haruna Iddrisu was our linguist – in charge of communication. When our brother John came to power, he substituted him for Dr Omane, who is a natural stammerer. Who is a natural stammerer. He is a very intelligent boy. Smart. But when he is speaking he wastes time in coming out. Ghanaians don't have that much patience."
READ MORE: Why Bagbin is on rampage against Mahama
President of the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations Yaw Ofori Debrah has described Bagbin’s comment as disappointing and wants an apology.
Also, President of the Stammers Association, Elias Apraku, said the comments by the Presidential Aspirant will entrench stigmatisation against people who stammer and erode their confidence in the workplace.
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Former President Jerry John Rawlings also took a swipe at Alban Bagbin over utterances which have the tendency to negatively affect the unity and cohesion of the NDC.
Rawlings said comments by Alban Bagbin were unacceptable and contrary to the values and principles of the party.
He emphasized that the ongoing intra party democratic processes taking place are meant to further deepen the democratic credentials of the party and indicated that the National Executive Committee of the Party will have to ensure the full application of the rules and regulations governing campaign utterances and electioneering.
He stated that "Such utterances have the tendency to negatively affect the unity and cohesion of the party."
But Alban Bagbin has apologised for his "indiscretion" after his comments on disabled persons appointed to certain roles in government attracted a backlash.
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At a press conference he organised, the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament said his comments should not have been made in public but was rather a private matter to be discussed within NDC circles.
But beyond this, he refused to accept his comments was an attack on persons with disabilities as portrayed on social and mainstream media.
The question one may ask, was the NDC presidential aspirant forced or was he under pressure to apologise to Ghanaians?
Even if, was the apology from his heart?
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