Apologise to Ghanaians for U-turn on loans - Mahama to Akufo-Addo

Former President John Dramani Mahama has called on the Akufo-Addo government to apologise to Ghanaians for making a u-turn on its position on the state contracting loans to finance projects.

In opposition, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) criticised the Mahama administration for taking loans to develop the country and promised to do things differently when elected.

But that promise has not been kept by the NPP. In its first 18 months, the Akufo-Addo government borrowed nearly eight billion dollars. That is approximately 40 billion Ghana Cedis.

And President Akufo-Addo last week said that his government would borrow to finance its programmes, adding that even the USA borrows.

Addressing delegates of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) at Tantra Hills, Accra in the Trobu constituency on Monday, Mr Mahama pointed out that the government has made a uturn on the issue of loans and therefore called on it to apologise for its earlier attack on the NDC.

“We have all your quotations on loans”, he added.

Mr Mahama said when the NDC was in government and borrowed to invest in assets such as hospitals, roads, bridges, interchanges, ports expansion, electricity and water, among many others, the NPP consistently criticised the government.

“So today if you have turned around and you have seen that you can borrow and invest in assets, then the first thing you do is to apologise and say sorry to Ghanaians. But when u behave as if we don’t know what you said, and say even the US is borrowing. And so what?" he quizzed.

He said after borrowing almost GHC 40 billion, the NPP cannot tell Ghanaians what it has used the money.

Mr Mahama also rejected the claim by the NPP government that, it is using some of the borrowed money to service the debt behind left by the NDC government. He said the NDC in power also paid some of the loans left behind by the NPP administration, citing the Eurobond as an example.