Aliu Mahama was never sidelined in Kufuor's govt - Mpiani

• The Kufuor government did not sideline Vice President Aliu Mahama

• Kufuor's Chief of Staff says allegations to that effect are untrue

• Alhaji Aliu Mahama was Ghana's first Muslim Vice President

Kwadwo Okyere Mpiani, Chief of Staff during the John Agyekum Kufuor government, has rejected allegations that late Vice President

Read full articleAlhaji Aliu Mahama was sidelined during his time in government.

Mpiani said Mahama was voluntarily picked by Kufuor as his running mate for the whole eight years he served as president.

He wondered why people will choose to believe that Kufuor or any of his assigns will sideline Mahama, especially along ethnic lines.

“He (Aliu Mahama) didn’t apply for any post, and he wasn’t voted for. It was Kufour himself who called him and told him I want to make you my running mate. So how can he (Kufuor) push him away on ethnic grounds? Nobody forced him on Kufuor.

“There are so many of these allegations which are not true. I don’t know why people have such fertile minds to be thinking about these things. These allegations are not true.”

Mpiani, in a recent interview with Accra-based Citi FM, spoke extensively about incidents during his time in the Kufuor government. He spoke on the Face To Face programme which first aired on September 21.

Mpiani during the interview advanced that Ghana does not need the services of a Vice President given the current government structure, which in his view gives them little power.

“The vice president’s role is stated clearly in the constitution. In practice, you have to follow that but the president may add other duties.

“Any power you have depends on what the president wants you to do but unfortunately for our vice presidents, some of the powers given to them in the constitution, Jerry Rawlings took them away like being the Chairman of the Police Council or being the Chairman of Defense Council because of his problems with the late Kow Nkensen Arkaah who was the Vice President, he asked parliament to take all of it away?”

Aliu Mahama was Ghana's first Muslim Vice President, he unsuccessfully run to lead the New Patriotic Party, NPP, into the 2012 elections. He died in November 2012.

His son, Farouk Aliu Mahama, is a lawmaker in the current Parliament. He represents people of the Yendi Consitituency.