NPP government smacks of pettiness, immaturity – Mahama jabs

Former President John Dramani Mahama has accused the Akufo-Addo-led government of dabbling in pettiness, claiming his successor has failed to give him credit for projects started by the NDC administration.

According to the former president, the inability of the NPP government to give credit where it is due also amounted to immaturity.

Addressing a mammoth gathering of NDC supporters in the Volta region as part of the party’s Unity Walk on Saturday, Mr. Mahama cited the sod cutting for the second phase of the Kumasi Airport project by President Akufo-Addo last week as a case in point.

Former President Mahama stated: “Let me give you examples, and that is the pettiness of the NPP. They cannot even give credit where it is due. What does it take away from you if you give credit? President Rawlings carried out the feasibility study for the Bui Dam project, President Kufuor came and found the money and started the project. When president Mills came the money wasn’t enough so he went to China and got additional money to continue, the project was finally finished under president Mahama.

“When I went to commission the project, I invited President Kufuor to come and sit down. I told the whole country that this man started this project, what do you lose? When President Mills was commissioning the N1 project, he invited President Kufuor and he said it is this man who started it. What do you lose?

“It shows the pettiness, low standards, immaturity of the NPP as a government. There are many other projects that I know they will come to commission them. This plagiarism; I thought that only speeches were plagiarized but now I know that projects can also be plagiarized” .

Mr. Mahama recalled that, “On 7th January 2017 they asked him to stop work and they kept him waiting for 18 months and they come back and cut the same sod, same contractor, same money, same site and you ask the contractor to build and finish in two years. That project would have been completed by next year, what a waste of national resources.”

The former president also had issues with the Ghana Card being executed by the National Identification Authority (NIA), which he believes would denationalize some Ghanaians.

“The ID card is going to become the most important identification to Ghanaians. If you don’t have a birth certificate or a passport you must swear an affidavit, supported by two persons who have identity as Ghanaians, if you go to one of the villages in my constituency – Bole Bamboi – perhaps nobody has a birth certificate or passport so for the 300 or 400 people with no birth certificate or passport how are you going to register them?”

He continued, “I don’t know the illogical and shortsighted and a very strong symbol of incompetence that you can’t think far and see that on the basis of what you have prescribed as criteria for qualification of national ID card you are going to disenfranchise more than 20 million of our citizens and that is unacceptable and so the NDC is going to do everything to fight for the best interest of the majority of the people to make sure they are going to be identified to be given cards so that they can be identified as bonafide Ghanaians.

“The NDC will fight on the side of majority of Ghanaians to ensure that they are identified as Ghanaians and that nobody is denationalized because of this process. This is a deliberate attempt to denationalize some of our people and we shall not accept it. We will use every legitimate instrument that is possible under a democracy to ensure that every Ghanaians is able to register,” the former president remarked.”