Nana Kalyppo will not kow-tow to President Mahama – NPP

Nana Akufo-Addo will not debate President John Mahama, his spokesman Mustapha Hamid has said, adding: “the NPP’s campaign team will not kowtow to Mahama because they are not children.”

Speaking to Accra-based Star FM after President John Mahama threw a challenge to his boss for a presidential debate, Hamid stated categorically that “we are not going to debate him.”

Justifying his reasons, he recalled president Mahama’s claims that Nana Akufo-Addo and other opposition parties are not qualified to criticise him because they have never been president before.

President Mahama had said only former presidents Kufour and Rawlings are qualified to criticise him since they have been president before.

He said: “Now, people who don’t qualify to criticise you — how do they qualify to debate you? Is debate not criticism? That’s what it is. We are going to stand toe-toe and then we criticise him and say the economy is not running well… that’s debate. That’s criticism.

“So, we don’t qualify to debate him. So, we take it as such. We don’t qualify. We are not going to debate him,” argued.

The president threw the challenge for a debate to his main rival in an interview with Ovation Magazine.

Hamid dismissed claims that his boss is afraid to debate the president, arguing that Akufo-Addo has always debated in his career as a lawyer.
He said:“He [Akufo-Addo] is a very good advocate in the law court and everything else.

“But, the point was that the NPP’s campaign team will not kowtow to Mahama because they are not children.

“So we’re not going to pander to his whims when he wants something he gets it [and] when he doesn’t that’s okay. We’re not going to debate president Mahama. We are running the campaign on our own term,” he added.