Wa, Aug. 24, GNA – Former President John Dramani Mahama has commended the Ghanaian media for staying firm to their profession despite the deteriorating press freedom in the country.
He gave the commendation while addressing supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Wa during his “Thank you” tour of the Upper West Region; the last region he visited in the first phase of the nationwide tour.
“This is a government that likes praise singing and cannot tolerate criticism-if you criticize them, they will come after you and so we know your job is not easy, but you have continued to be true to your profession”, he added.
The Former President particularly lauded the media in the Upper West Region for working under difficult conditions to project vulnerable voices and that of theirs especially in the midst of a disaster that destroyed roads making districts and communities inaccessible.
Former President Mahama who also eulogized Mr Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, the Speaker of the 8th Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana said the Speaker was a person they were all proud of and indicated their readiness to collaborate with him to make him one of the best Speakers Ghana ever had.
“The good thing about Bagbin is he says it as it is and sometimes he makes enemies because he says things they might not like to hear”, he said.
Former President Mahama said working together with Bagbin in Parliament, he knew him well and he knew he would succeed and urged the people of the Upper West Region to continue to be proud and give him the necessary support.
The Former President in an encounter with the media in the Upper West Region also outlined a few giant development legacies he left behind in the region when he was in office.
They included; the ultramodern Upper West Regional Hospital, the Jambusi Water Project that addressed the water challenge in Wa town, the ultramodern Upper West Regional Library, and some infrastructure including; a library and a student hostel for the then Wa campus of the University for Development Studies (UDS).
Work on the infrastructure for the then UDS, he said, had stalled since the NDC government left office and said the next NDC government would be looking to complete those projects to give the University a face lift to enhance academic work.
GNA