President Mahama justifies attacks on Akufo-Addo
President John Dramani Mahama has justified the personal attacks his campaign has directed at the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
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Mr Mahama, on his recent campaign tours has described Akufo-Addo as a divisive figure who lacks the leadership skills required to unite the country if he is elected President
In an interview on Good Evening Ghana on Tuesday night, President Mahama said he was only responding to year’s of abuse by the opposition leader and other members of his party.
The President advised Akufo-Addo to learn to accept criticisms after labelling him as “incompetent and visionless” over the past four years.
The President said, “For four years he [Akufo-Addo] has described me as incompetent, for four years he has described me as visionless, for four years he has described me as a thief.
"He says when he comes to power he won’t steal your money what does that mean? It means I am stealing Ghanaians’ money.
“I’m a politician and I know it’s an occupational hazard; sometimes to have your opponents vilify you so I don’t take it as anything… I am campaigning and I am saying that we need at this stage of Ghana’s history somebody who can bring the country together and my opponent’s track record does not fit that role because in his own party, he is not able to bring his people together.
“Today; it is the truth, people can’t criticize Akufo-Addo in NPP, if you criticize him, they will suspend you or sack you or his attack dogs will set on you. Ask people in NPP, they are quiet, they can see the bus is going to crash but if they say it they will attack them. So they are waiting for the bus to crash, and when it crashes, I said they will take the bus and send it to Kokompe to repair it and put it back on the road for 2021”.
Mr Mahama continued, “he [Nana Addo] should learn to accept criticism, I do, people insult me, vilify me, I don’t utter a word. And so when I say you cannot unify your party so you cannot unify Ghana and I think that the kind of president Ghana needs at this stage in our history is one who can bring us together. And so you must prove a track record that you can bring people together and most people do not think that he can do that.”