Former President John Dramani Mahama has criticized the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) accusing it of hypocrisy because of its u-turn on borrowing.
This comes after President Nana Akufo-Addo said his government will continue borrowing money to put up projects.
[contextly_sidebar id=”vlzysuxRN6MQk2waaLtmuYrvJf2Vp4Zn”]He said the projects will be “assets” to pay back loans.
But Mr. Mahama said comments like the one the President made on borrowing only anger Ghanaians.
Speaking at a meeting with National Democratic Congress (NDC) delegates in Amasaman in the Greater Accra Region, John Mahama said the NPP owed Ghanaians an apology.
“It is the hypocrisy that Ghanaians are angry with and we have all your quotations about borrowing. You said any idiot can borrow. That is what you said.”
“…so today if you have turned around and you see that you can borrow and invest in assets, the first thing you do is apologise, the first thing you do is apologise to Ghanaians and say you didn’t know; we are sorry, now we will borrow, even the US is borrowing. Of course, the US is borrowing. So what?”
What Nana Addo said
Speaking at an entrepreneurship forum in Nigeria organised by the Tony Elumelo Foundation, President Akufo-Addo insisted every country borrows money for projects and Ghana is not an exception.
“We will borrow money; everybody borrows money. The United States of America is one of the biggest debtors in the world. So borrowing money is not necessarily a betrayal of the concept of independence. The key for us in borrowing money is that we borrow money to create assets that will allow us to pay the money back. That is the key…If we borrow the money and use it properly it is an asset for us in expanding our economy and infrastructure.”
The President was responding to a question on why Ghana goes for loans from China despite trumpeting the Ghana Beyond Aid mantra.
President Akufo-Addo said: “Borrowing money is not aid. What President Xi Jinping offered is a $60 billion fund which African countries can access, not as aid but as loans. If you can produce a project that the Chinese think is worth supporting, you can have access to that money, but you have to pay it back.”
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa & Sammi Wiafe/citinewsroom.com/Ghana
