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Former President John Mahama has said he is not involving celebrities in his campaigns ahead of the 7 December 2020 polls because he does not want their career destroyed by it, since, in his view, such endorsements generate hatred for the artistes involved.

Speaking about the endorsement of President Nana Akufo-Addo by musicians Samini and Sarkodie, Mr Mahama said: “Musicians would make music for you and all that but it doesn’t really amount to endorsement”.

“We don’t understand some of these things. In Ghana, when a musician makes music for you or for a political party, then he comes against quite a lot of antipathy from the supporters of the other party and that shouldn’t be the case but unfortunately, that is what happens”, the presidential candidate of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) told Accra-based Starr FM in an interview on Tuesday, 3 November 2020.

“And, so, in this particular campaign, I have tried to discourage, as much as possible, getting celebrities involved in our campaign because it leads to a destruction of their careers.

“And, so, if you’ve noticed, I haven’t gone around with celebrities and musicians and so on and so forth because our politics does not understand those things”, Mr Mahama said.

In reference to the endorsements the president has received from the creative arts industry, Mr Mahama said: “I don’t have any antipathy or anger with anybody who endorses Nana Addo, that’s their decision”.

Specifically speaking about Samini and Sarkodie’s endorsements of the president, Mr Mahama said: “I like them, they are young talented musicians and my attitude toward them doesn’t change”.

“Smaini has been somebody that I like, I mean his music ‘Linda’ and all that, I mean we all love his music, so, if he’s endorsed Nana Addo, he must have his reasons for doing that, it doesn’t change my attitude toward him.

“But I’ve said that I won’t get musicians and celebrities deeply involved in my campaign because I don’t want to affect their careers; people will misinterpret it and think that because they support you, ‘I won’t buy their music; because they support you, I won’t watch their movies’”, Mr Mahama noted.