Former President John Dramani Mahama has described as discourteous, a question posed by Peter Okwoche, a journalist with the BBC in an interview.
The National Democratic Congress flagbearer became a subject of mockery on social media following his hesitating answer to a question about whether he had ever been given bribe and accepted same.
The response of the former President generated controversies with the then opposition New Patriotic Party accusing him of not telling the truth with his seeming difficulty in answering the direct question.
Commenting on the interview on Accra based Class fm on Monday, John Dramani Mahama said the question from the BBC journalist caught him off guard.
“The thing about that interview was that, that question was a very discourteous question. The Western media has created an impression from some solid experiences; from the period of Mebutu Sese Seko that characterizes every African leader as corrupt. One won’t ask a western leader that kind of question because it is discourteous. If am interviewing Tony Blair I won’t ask him; are you corrupt? But it is that kind of perception that African leaders are corrupt that made him ask that question,” he said.
The former President explained that the question was thrown off the calf which got him in a fix as to what appropriate answer to give.
“It caught me off guard [I’ll tell you that]. But I answered it and tried to clarify the question but he kept persisting and I said no, I haven’t.
The interview which was conducted few months before the 2016 General Elections was described by many as the last straw that broke the camel’s back on the integrity of the then President in the fight against corruption.
According to him, the interview and his answer to the question of bribe taking was capitalized on by the the opposition National Democratic Congress.
