I won’t respond to NPP's “rabbit” press conference - Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama has described the New Patriotic Party's media encounter on Wednesday as a “rabbit” press conference.

The NPP on Wednesday organised a press conference to respond to the president's assertion that Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia is unqualified to question his competence.

Mahama told a gathering of National Democratic Congress (NDC) supporters in Accra he would only stomach the criticism of “incompetence” from former presidents JJ Rawlings and John Agyekum Kufuor because they know what it takes to run a nation.

He also singled out Dr. Bawumia in his comments at the #Changinglives platform on Monday.

But responding to the president, the acting chairman of the Danquah-Busia-Dombo tradition, Freddie Blay said “We do not think it is fair on the President for us to compare Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia to him. One, Dr Bawumia is not incompetent. Two, Dr Bawumia is not corrupt. Three, Dr Bawumia knows about economic management. Four, Dr Bawumia is competent”.

Blay noted, “if competence is defined by a President who promised to end dumsor in 2013, and has been competently shifting that expiry date since then, and with no end in sight, then we rest our case.”

Meanwhile, at his final stop of his #ChangingLives #TransformingGhana tour in Ho today, President Mahama said it was unnecessary for the NPP to organize a “whole” press conference to respond to his candid comments.

“I’ve had my say, and don’t intend to respond to that press conference,” he told the crowd at the Jubilee Park, Thursday evening.

“I said in Accra that when a hunter heads to the bush to go and shoot an elephant, he doesn’t make time to stand and shoot at any rabbit that passes along. The press conference is a rabbit press conference. I won’t have time for rabbits because I am going to shoot an elephant,” he explained.

“On the day that Opana was doing his press conference to respond to me, somebody was also doing a press conference to say he is taking them to court,” Mahama mocked, citing the current division in the New Patriotic Party.

“One mark of competent leadership is to manage people… right now I don’t even know, so who is the chairman,” he asked.