Akufo-Addo appoints Mahama to attend ECOWAS summit

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has designated ex-President John Mahama to represent him at the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) mini-summit in Gambia. 

In a press release Monday signed by the Acting Director of Communication, Eugene Arhin, it said the President has requested Mr Mahama who is also the ECOWAS co-mediator to represent him at the mini-summit to be hosted by the mediator, President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria. 

"The President is of the view that the continuing involvement of former President John Mahama in the mediation process in the Gambia would assist the process," the statement said.

An ECOWAS meeting held on the sidelines of the inaugural ceremony of the President on Saturday, the leaders who were in Ghana asked that the outgoing President who lost the December elections to continue to assist President Muhammadu Buhari as co-mediator in the Gambian impasse.

In a telephone conversation Sunday, President Akufo-Addo personally conveyed the ECOWAS decision to Mr Mahama and expressed his confidence that with his help.

It is expected that Mr Mahama will contribute significantly in helping Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari to convince the Gambian President Yahaya Jammeh to readily accept the country’s election results and hand over.

"Other leaders attending the mini-summit are the Chairperson of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Governments, Ellen Sirleaf Johnson of Liberia, and the Presidents of Senegal and Sierra Leone respectively," the statement added.