Rawlings goofed in Hanna Tetteh outburst – Antwi-Danso

International relations expert, Dr. Vladmir Antwi-Danso says former President Jerry Rawlings “goofed” by discussing in the open, the supposed misconduct of Ghana’s foreign affairs minister, Hanna Tetteh, at the just ended Mayors summit in Accra.Mr. Rawlings scolded Ms. Tetteh for walking out of the just ended Conference of the World Mayors in Accra on Monday. According to the former president, Ms. Tetteh rudely left the summit because he insisted that the Vice President, Kwesi Amissah-Arthur should read the keynote address on behalf of the President instead of the minister.

“I was told that the President was not coming to the start of the Conference. Instead he had delegated the Foreign Minister to come and represent him. So I said, he can’t do that.  We have the Vice President here. Protocol is such that if [President Mahama] cannot do it, he should ask his vice president to come and open the conference; not his foreign minister. I tried to call the President and he called back and I told him that we have a Vice President on the ground and he cannot send his foreign minister [to represent him]. He probably wasn’t told that the Vice President was [here], and he said sorry,” the former president narrated.

“I am known for talking about embarrassing situations because I don’t want repetitions. When we were there, the foreign minister turns up and says hello to everybody and tells the mayor that we should start the conference. But the Mayor told her that President has said she should give her speech to the Vice President. But she said, ‘I have a paper to deliver so let us start the conference’. I was holding my phone and listening. Fortunately, the mayor stood his ground and made sure we waited for the Vice-President,” he added.

“Humility is very important when you hold office. It’s not everything that the President does agree with or that I like. But you cannot take away from him, his humble way of doing things, his likable nature. I’m afraid some of the characters around him have a problem”, he noted.

But commenting on the development, Dr. Antwi Danso said Mr. Rawlings shouldn’t have discussed the matter on the podium.“If the ex-president only gave suggestions it was in order but where he compelled his decision on them was bad. It is a diplomatic blunder.“You can’t get up and castigate Hanna Tetteh. It should have been an in house problem to be dealt with later. He goofed in this matter,” he stated on Accra-based Kasapa FM