‘Akufo-Addo won’t live to repay debt’ comment not wrong - Alabi defends Mahama

Campaign Manager of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Professor Joshua Alabi, is on a course to defend the flagbearer of his party John Dramani Mahama over some hypothetical arguments he made about President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

While addressing the chiefs and elders of the Nadowli traditional council, former president John Dramani Mahama urged Ghanaians to demand accountability from the Akufo-Addo-led government with regards to expenditure of borrowed money.

Per John Mahama’s hypothetical argument, President Akufo-Addo will not live long enough to pay the over GH¢137bn his government has borrowed since assuming office in 2017.

He used the following words to communicate his argument; “If we follow the order of life, the path ahead of Akufo-Addo is shorter than all of you, young people. If you go to the market, you’ll see a small goatskin and an old goatskin. Young people can die I agree but if the natural order is to be maintained somebody who is twenty years old is going to live the next fifty years”.

“At my age, I’m going to live shorter, Nana Akufo-Addo is going to live shorter because at his age, in the natural order of things, he has shorter time so that debt he is not going to pay,” he added.

As a matter of fact, this was not well received by a section of Ghanaians as they heavily condemned the former president.

But Professor Joshua Alabi believes the former president was only stating the obvious natural order of things which is not wrong.

According to him, the former president was only trying to draw the interest and attention of the younger generation to all the details of governmental affairs which invariably affects them.

He said on Citi News, “…I tell my son all things being equal, I’ll leave him unless the exceptions…it means that you should have an interest in what I do; which will have an effect on your life. So that is the context…Let them say; in Ghana even when you marry one they say trouble, two they say trouble, three trouble so let them say…so if I’m a leader today you should have an interest in what I leave for you. So if I go about borrowing by heart you should have an interest…”

Joshua Alabi continued to explain the context in which John Mahama made his argument; “…It is not wrong, I’m giving myself as example; I’m in this house, I have children and I go about borrowing knowing very well that I may not be able to pay before God calls me. All things being equal, my children have the right to call me…”