'Liar' John Mahama should keep quiet - Mustapha Hamid

Information Minister, Mustapha Hamid says he finds it difficult to tag former President John Dramani Mahama as a “liar” even though ‘he is’.

“In our culture, it’s hard to tag an elderly as a liar knowing very well that the person is”, he said.

His comment comes after John Dramani Mahama lashed out at the government for what he describes as the slow pace of development, saying the Nana Addo-led government has failed majority of its promises to the citizenry.

Addressing a gathering of NDC members at Somanya after the party’s 6th 'Unity Walk' aimed at reorganizing the party ahead of the 2020 elections, the former President said the government had failed in fulfilling its promises on many levels, including paying road contractors working on various projects across the country.

“NPP promised the moon but has not even delivered clouds and so it makes your goodwill dwindle so fast . . . I know that when we were here, we were working on asphalt upgrading roads in Somanya and Odumase. I saw the contractor’s asphalt plants parked by the roadside and you will be surprised that for nearly two years the contractors have not been paid their money and so the work has come to a standstill”, the former President complained.

Mahama also criticized the Akufo-Addo government for its inability to stabilize the price of petroleum products to the satisfaction of Ghanaian consumers.

Ex-president Mahama warned that the high price of fuel, particularly Liquefied Petroleum Gas, had long-term degrading effects on the environment because of the cheaper, but more destructive alternative of charcoal.

“We were told that it [petrol] was too expensive and that 50 percent of the petrol was made up of taxes alone and that when they win and come into office, they would remove the taxes so that petrol will [be cheaper]. Today petrol is selling at GHc 22 per gallon.

“I am even more concerned about LPG because LPG was about GHc40 before December 7. Today LPG is more than GHc80. What it means is that for those who cannot afford LPG, they will go back to using charcoal and we all know the implications of using charcoal. When you use charcoal, it degrades the environment and so government should do something about the price of LPG particularly”, the former President stated.

Speaking on NEAT FM’s morning show ‘Ghana Montie’, Mustapha Hamid described the former first gentleman’s utterances as “unfortunate”.

“It’s just a year after former President Mahama left government. Ghanaians still remember his style of leadership. People haven’t forgotten, he claimed Ghanaians have short memory but that is not true. 2016 elections should teach him a lesson”, he noted.

“It is very terrible for someone like him to say things which are not true about the Nana Addo government just to win political points. It’s terrible, it’s not right. His mindset of governance dragged Ghana behind”, he told host Akwasi Aboagye.