Former President John Dramani Mahama has taken on his successor, President Akufo-Addo, for urging other African leaders against begging at a time he was all over the place asking world leaders to plead on the country’s behalf to secure a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
During the opening of the US-Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington DC earlier this week, the President told fellow countries on the continent to wean themselves off “begging” the West to earn global respect and change poor perceptions about the continent.
“If we stop being beggars and spend African money inside the continent, Africa will not need to ask for respect from anyone, we will get the respect we deserve. If we make it prosperous as it should be, respect will follow,” Mr Akufo-Addo said.
But addressing the NDC National Delegates Congress on Saturday, December 17, Mr. John Mahama found the President’s comment morally questionable.
“We have a President who enjoys spouting the rhetorics of self-respect and restraint from begging western nations for support, yet he has spent the last several weeks on the telephone with western leaders asking them to beg the IMF to grant Ghana the recently announced staff-level agreement for an extended credit facility,” he told the delegates.
According to him, President Akufo-Addo has “reduced the country to a beggar nation.”
“Our dear nation has never been so put to shame and come close to being a beggar nation as we are today,” he added.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund and Ghanaian authorities announced on Tuesday, December 13 that they have reached staff-level agreement on economic policies and reforms to be supported by a new three-year arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) of about US$3 billion.