Mahama reducing politics to serial-caller level – Hamid

The camp of the flag bearer of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo, has accused President John Mahama of reducing the level of politicking in Ghana to "pedestrian, serial caller" levels.

Reacting to Mr Mahama’s comment that Nana Akufo-Addo might have fallen asleep on the road while touring the Western Region, thus, his recent claim that he only saw terrible roads in the region during his campaign trip, Mr Mustapha Hamid, spokesperson for Mr Akufo-Addo, told Emefa Apawu on Class91.3FM’s 505 news programme: “I feel very terrible, I feel very sad that the president of the nation wants to reduce politics in this country to banality…”

Mr Hamid said he would have expected serial callers to speak in the pedestrian manner that the president had spoken and was, therefore, saddened by Mr Mahama's comment.

Mr Mahama, who is currently touring the Western Region, said on Tuesday, 16 August, that: “Perhaps he was sleeping so he couldn’t see the roads.”

Mr Akufo-Addo, who is Mr Mahama’s main contender in the upcoming polls, just completed his tour of the Western Region. During the tour, Nana Akufo-Addo questioned claims that there was massive road infrastructure being undertaken by the government in the region.

Mr Mahama, who is seeking to win a second term in office, said the Western Region had benefitted from several infrastructural projects under his first term and, therefore, asked the people of the region to reject claims by Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP that the region had been neglected by the government.

To buttress his point, Mr Mahama said the region had benefitted from more cocoa roads than any other part of the country. “During my campaign in 2012, I realised the roads in the Western Region were very bad and we promised that we would invest money in Western Region’s roads. Under the cocoa roads programme, the majority of the roads being constructed are all in the Western Region,” he stated.

Apart from roads, Mr Mahama said his government had invested immensely in water, healthcare, power, and education. These investments, he added, were testament to the achievements of his government for which reason he believed the NDC deserved another term in office.