People’s Forum-Ghana offers to organise Mahama-Akufo-Addo debate
A group calling itself People’s Forum-Ghana has offered to organise a debate between the President, John Dramani Mahama, and the flagbearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo.
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The offer comes after President Mahama announced in an interview aired on TV3 on Monday that he was open to debating Nana Addo any time the need arose.
He said Nana Addo had made several “contentious claims” about him that he wanted to challenge the NPP leader on.
President Mahama said: “Indeed he’s made a lot of contentious statements that I would have wished that you had him here, so that we would debate those issues, but essentially our parties are involved in agreeing the format of the debate, who organises it and all that, and, so, it’s not for me to say.”
In response to the President’s comments, People’s Forum-Ghana said in a statement issued in Accra on Wednesday that it would facilitate a debate between the two political rivals.
“The People's Forum-Ghana has taken cognisance of the call by HE the President to engage the Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, Hon Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo Addo, in a debate on issues and facts about the economy and we wish to take up the task of making this unprecedented battle of facts a reality," the statement said.
“With respect to the caveat which Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo Addo gave in his response, we believe it’s worth its value in the face of the economic challenges the country faces. This is in the sense that, The People's Forum-Ghana, considers such “Contentious statements” as economic speculations and as a key element of our national discourse and as such its settlement will enhance the awareness of the citizenry and better inform the electorates in their decision making and as well eliminate the damning effect it could have on our economy,” it noted.
The group said it had started the process of designing the modalities and form the debate would take and would complete same after consulting President Mahama, Nana Addo and other stakeholders.
"We hope that a successful organization of this programme will go a long way in enhancing and entrenching our democracy. God Bless Our Homeland Ghana," it added.
Read the full statement below:
THE PEOPLE'S FORUM-GHANA TO ORGANISE A DEBATE OF FACTS FOR PRES. J.D MAHAMA AND N.A.D.A ADDO—16/03/16
The People's Forum-Ghana has taken cognisance of the call by HE the President to engage the Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, Hon Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo Addo in a debate on issues and facts about the economy and we wish to take up the task of making this unprecedented battle of facts a reality. We also noted that the President described the utterances of the Opposition Flagbearer as "Contentious Statements".
With respect to the caveat which Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo Addo gave in his response, we believe its worth its value in the face of the economic challenges the country faces. This is in the sense that, The People's Forum-Ghana, considers such “Contentious statements” as economic speculations and as a key element of our national discourse and as such its settlement will enhance the awareness of the citizenry and better inform the electorates in their decision making and as well eliminate the damning effect it could have on our economy.
It is common knowledge that speculators can make and unmake an economy and as such if these contentious issues are not settled, we are likely to find ourselves in a situation where Ghana will be slipping into such difficult channels.
The People's Forum-Ghana in the recent past has done some works to protect the sanctity of our State institutions such as The Bank of Ghana (BoG) and the Statistical Service of Ghana (SSG) from the effect of the works of political speculators who sought to cast doubts on the efforts of our hard working professionals, only for the purpose of gaining political advantage. It must be noted that we are still committed to protecting the sanctity of our institutions from any form of false speculations and statements.
As we indicated in our previous press conference held on the 2nd September, 2014, we have the obligation to take up this mantle to clear these doubts in the minds of Ghanaians and investors because it serves no good if conflicting informations are churned out by our leaders who ought to know the detrimental effects these speculations and statements have on our economy both locally and internationally.
In view of the above mentioned concerns, The People's Forum-Ghana, has taken up the challenge to organize this proposed debate. We have started the process of designing the modalities and form this debate may take and will complete same after consulting the President, the NPP's Flagbearer and other stake holders to enable us organize a progressive debate for the benefit of the people of Ghana.
We hope that a successful organization of this programme will go a long way in enhancing and entrenching our democracy. God Bless Our Homeland Ghana
……………………….
Clement Amole
(Executive Secretary)
(0244990861, 0200411692)