Alban Bagbin apologises for his “indiscretion”

The 2020 flagbearer aspirant for the opposition National Democratic Congress, Alban Bagbin has apologised for his “indiscretion” after his comments on disabled persons appointed to certain roles in government attracted a backlash.
 
Addressing journalists in Accra on the matter on Tuesday, Mr. Bagbin said he least expected such comments cause emotions to rise among a section of the Ghanaian people, and accordingly said “I render my heartfelt apologies to you all”.
 
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.
 
“I want to take full responsibility for the indiscretion of going with issues that will otherwise be private to the NDC. I have learnt that such disclosure could raise emotions among some sections of the Ghanaian society,” he added.
 
The NDC MP who wants to lead his party in the 2020 elections made the following comments during a tour of the Volta region to canvass for support.
“Traditionally, if you are not a whole person can you be a chief? Can you be a queenmother? So if you are going to appoint the minister of chieftaincy and you appoint a very bright lawyer who unfortunately is blind what are you telling the chiefs? The chiefs rejected it, and they spoke, we refused to change him. Do you expect them to vote for you?
 
“When Prof [Atta Mills] was in power, Haruna Iddrisu was our linguist in charge of communication, when my brother John [Mahama] came to power, he substituted him for Dr Omane Boamah who is a natural stammerer,”
 
“He is a very intelligent boy, he is smart but when he is speaking, he wastes time in coming out and Ghanaians do not have that much patience, so, they are always looking for those that are rattling.”