Mark Okraku Mantey: I Did Not Hear Anybody Boo Akufo-Addo; He Was Rather Cheered By The Crowd

• The Ministry of Tourism has clarified the booing incident at the Global Citizen Festival involving President Akufo-Addo
• According to a Deputy Minister, Mark Okraku-Mantey, the weekend's incident was fabricated by some faceless individuals
• He also adds that from where he was close to the stage and the action, he never heard any boos but cheers

The Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mark Okraku-Mantey, says some faceless individuals fabricated the booing incident of President Akufo-Addo at the Global Citizen Festival.

According to Mr. Okraku-Mantey, he was close to the stage and the scene of the action yet never heard anybody boo the President, contrary to information making rounds in media circles.

Throwing his weight behind assertions by the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) that the booing incident was orchestrated, Mr. Okraku-Mantey said he was surprised to wake up the morning after the show to hear some Ghanaian youth had heckled the first gentleman of the land.

Read also

Akufo-Addo deserved to be praised and not booed - Pundit explains president's role in Global Citizen Festival success

In an interview on Accra-based Hitz FM, he said he had never heard anything of that sort while at the event and only heard cheers.

"My first reaction was that, 'could it be that it happened and I didn't know, how come nobody tweeted about it that night?' Why did they have to wait till after five or six hours? When the booing happened, for the first time, social media has become dormant until morning. It gives me the clue that it is a well-orchestrated agenda. You could tell that the person who took the video was even far from the stage," he said.

Mr. Okraku-Mantey insisted that from where he sat, all he heard when the President stood up to deliver his speech were cheers and screams of his numerous nicknames, not hoots.

Read also

Akufo-Addo booing could mean nothing but calls for self-assessment - Obiri Boahen

Touching on the international festival, which was nearly marred by the booing incident, Mr. Okraku-Mantey said that projecting such negative stories dents Ghana's global image.

Akufo-Addo booed at Global Citizen Festival

President Akufo-Addo was reportedly booed just before he addressed thousands of patrons at the Global Citizen Festival.

Amid shouts of 'Away, away,' the youth who had converged at the Black Star Square heckled and hooted at the President to pressure him to fix the current economic challenges.

The aftermath of the booing incident has seen the governing NPP accuse the NDC of being the brain behind the incident.

Akufo-Addo Booing Incident: Obiri Boahen Urges The President And NPP To Step Back And Reflect

Earlier, YEN.com.gh reported that a former Deputy General Secretary of the NPP, Nana Obiri Boahen, had said the unfortunate booing of President Akufo-Addo even though it was a random incident calls for introspection.

Read also

Sarkodie supports Kirani Ayat over copyright claims against Akufo-Addo government: I feel my brother and support him

He told YEN.com.gh in an exclusive interview that while the booing incident at the Global Citizens Festival was demoralizing, it presents a good time for the president to see if he has delivered his promises to Ghanaians.

Source: YEN.com.gh