Maurice Ampaw, Ghanaian private legal practitioner and media personalityMaurice Ampaw, a Ghanaian private legal practitioner and media personality, has backed down on his 2024 election statement.
The outspoken New Patriotic Party (NPP) supporter had vowed to leave Ghana for Togo if then-NDC flagbearer John Dramani Mahama, whom he claimed was unfit to return as President, won the election.
“I would not allow Mahama to rule over me for a second time; I would go to Togo. I’m telling you, mark it on the wall. I would leave the country.
“… if Mahama wins, I will go and live in Togo for four years. What is Mahama coming to do in government again?” he said in Twi on Kumasi-based Angel FM in October 2023.
However, speaking on Accra-based GTV’s morning show, Lawyer Maurice Ampaw clarified that his words were just political gimmicks aimed at energizing NPP supporters ahead of the polls, which they eventually lost.
“NDC has won, and you know, during the campaign, I was on the side of Bawumia. I made a lot of political statements. I said if Mahama wins, I will leave for Togo, but I won’t because Ghana is far better than Togo. It was part of the political game. I was just trying to say it was impossible for Mahama to return.
“As I sit here, I don’t even have a passport. I’ve never traveled before and have lived in Ghana for all 57 years of my life. So for me to say I’ll leave for Togo was a political gimmick meant to ginger our supporters. But at the end of the day, Mahama proved to me that anything is possible,” he emphasized.
Jean Mensa, the chairperson of the Electoral Commission, announced on Monday, December 9, that John Mahama, the flagbearer of the NDC, had won the election with 6,328,397 votes following the polls on December 7 while 4,657,304 votes were cast for New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
