Mahama apologises to Theodosia Okoh

President John Mahama has described as a “sad mistake”, Accra Mayor Alfred Vanderpuije’s attempt to rename, in honour of the late President John Mills, the national hockey pitch, which already bears the name of Ghana’s national flag designer, Theodosia Okoh.

The Mayor’s decision sparked an avalanche of flak against him resulting in the president’s intervention to reverse the renaming.

The 91-year-old grandmother who was angered by the Mayor’s action described the move as “senseless”.

She later expressed abject gratitude to President Mahama for stopping the renaming.

The Mayor was summoned to the Presidency by Chief of Staff Prosper Bani on Thursday to answer for his actions.

Speaking at a thanksgiving service in the Central regional capital, Cape Coast on Sunday July 28, 2013, to crown the week-long celebration of the late president’s first death anniversary, President Mahama said: "Let me express our regret to our grandmother Mrs. Theodosia Okoh for any emotional trauma [she may have suffered] as a result of the renaming of the national hockey pitch...the pitch shall continue to be called the Theodosia Okoh National Hockey Stadium".

President Mahama told the audience gathered at the Robert Mensah Sports Stadium that: "Prof. [Mills] himself in life would not have accepted [the name-change]".