President Mahama can’t teach me lessons in patriotism – Nana Addo

The flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party has said President John Mahama has no right to teach him lessons on patriotism following his comments on Moody’s rating of the Ghanaian economy.

The presidential nominee of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) president John Mahama has questioned Nana Akufo Addo’s “sense of patriotism” after the latter questioned Moody’s upgrade of the Ghanaian economy.

READ ALSO: Mahama questions Akufo-Addo’s ‘sense of patriotism’

“We have fought to try and restore confidence in the economy,”president Mahama told students at the University of Energy and Natural Resources in the Brong Ahafo region. “I don’t know how you can be happy when your economy is being downgraded. I mean don’t you have a sense of patriotism?”

He added: “They were happy when we were being downgraded now the same moody’s upgrades us and an opposition leader says Moody’s does not know what it is talking about.”

But speaking at the launch of the NPP Manifesto in Accra on Sunday, Nana Addo said President John Mahama “cannot teach me any lessons in patriotism, my love for and belief in Ghana is total.”

The flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, Akufo-Addo, attacked Moody’s rating of the Ghanaian economy, saying it did not consider the actual challenges Ghanaians are facing hence the need to disregard such ratings.
But president Mahama believes his main rival is happy to see Ghana in crisis, accusing him of propaganda and lies.

According to him, if Ghana were in a crisis, it wouldn’t have been possible for the country to raise GH¢4 billion from the Eurobond sale.

READ ALSO: Moody’s did not upgrade Ghana; Stop the lies – Bawumia

“When somebody sits and says the economy is in a crisis you fail to understand where he is seeing that crisis. He probably has some lens that sees crisis where crisis does not exist,” he stressed.

“Why would you give a country in crisis GH¢4 billion?… and so it gives a lie to the propaganda people try to put out that this country is in crisis.”

Earlier, the president hailed the upgrade as a sign of good governance of the NDC-led administration.

“Our country is respected in the international community and everybody recognises that. Ghana is rising, Ghana is doing well. In my absence we were pleased to hear that Moody’s credit rating agency has upgraded Ghana, it shows that we are doing something right and we are pleased about the way things are happening.”