His comments come at the back of the government accusing him of peddling falsehoods in his interaction with foreign diplomats in a meeting.
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No amount of gov't propaganda will take away Ayawaso violence stigma – Mahama
Former President John Mahama has said the government's propaganda and distraction will not take away the stigma of the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election on January 31, 2019.
John Mahama
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In the said meeting, Mahama showed the diplomats three videos related to the Ayawaso West Wuogon shooting incident.
At a press briefing Sunday, the Minister of Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah disputed the credibility of two of the videos Mahama showed to the diplomats, and said the other third video was a subject of investigation by the Emile Short Commission.
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"The Government of Ghana will this week put the diplomatic committee in Ghana on formal notice that former President John Dramani Mahama peddled several falsehoods and sought to undermine the authority of the state in his engagement with them on Wednesday, 13th February 2019," Oppong Nkrumah said.
According to him, the government was putting the diplomats on because of "the narratives that the former president gave to them on the said videos."
"[They] are palpably false and designed to tarnish Ghana's hard won reputation in the eyes of the international community," he stressed.
But Mahama said "No amount of government-sponsored propaganda and distraction will take away the stigma of the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election, as the darkest day in the history of Ghana's 4th Republican democracy."
In a Facebook post, he wrote "The substance of the matter is the violence meted out to innocent Ghanaians by hoodlums of the ruling government, paraded initially as state security personnel.
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"Thanks to videos filmed by television stations and other individuals, the true identity of these hoodlums, identified as members of the Invincible and Delta Forces of the NPP, have bee revealed.
"The victims, injured on the day, did not take guns and shoot themselves. They were injured by powerful assault rifles given to partisan hoodlums for the purpose of intimidating Ghanaians who were peacefully exercising their franchise in a by-election.
"The meeting held by my office in conjunction with the NDC party and the Minority in Parliament was to correct the false impression given to the diplomatic corps that NDC was the cause of the violence in Ayawaso West Wuogon.
"No amount of propaganda from government can erase the shame this country was subjected to on that ‘bloody Thursday’.
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"In any case, this is not the first, and will not be the last time in our history that an opposition group is meeting with the diplomatic corps to explain or clarify its version or outlook on policy or events in our country.
"The government must own up to its responsibilities and ensure the prosecution of the criminal elements who it deployed to Ayawaso West Wuogon. It is those actions that paint the country black internationally, not those who expose the dastardly acts sanctioned by the government and its appointees.
"In the public interest, let me share with you, one of the three main videos I showed at the Wednesday meeting with diplomats on the violence in Ayawaso West Wuogon. This, like the others, is a compilation available and shared widely by various media houses over the period."
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