If destroying the economy is Mahama's concept of sense, then I prefer the NPP's – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Akufo-Addo has responded to former President John Mahama’s recent comment that implied the government was not applying common sense to running the country.

“Government is planning and government is common sense and that is what the NDC was doing”, Mr Mahama said during one of his campaign tours in the Ketu South Constituency of the Volta Region.

“We were using planning and common sense,” the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress reiterated.

Mr Mahama also insisted that the government should have applied common sense in fixing the financial sector crisis rather than using GHS22 billion to kill nine banks and more than 400 other financial institutions which, according to him, could have been saved with just GHS9 billion.

Responding the former President during the governing New Patriotic Party’s launch of its 2020 manifesto in Cape Coast, Central Region on Saturday, 22 August 2020, Mr Mahama said: “It has been said by the NDC candidate the NPP policies lack sense” but “if running an emerging oil economy into the arms of the IMF because of indiscipline in the management of public finances is sense, I’m happy that the NPP has another concept of sense”.

“If having sense means cancelling teacher trainee and nurses’ allowances is sense, I’m happy that the NPP has another concept of sense.

“If having sense means recording worst economic management statistics of modern times, the lowest rate of growth of the 50 years, I’m happy that the NPP has another concept of sense”, the President contrasted.

He continued: “Having sense in the NPP means being able to take an economy growing at 3.4 per cent to an economy that grew, on the average, for three successive years, at least, seven per cent per year before the pandemic and was rightly acknowledged as one of the best-performing economies not just in Africa but also in the world.

“Having sense in the NPP, means executing the programme for Planting for Food and Jobs, which has led to the revival of Ghanaian agriculture from the doldrums of the NDC years, bringing in its wake, bumper harvest and affordable food prices in our markets and exports of significant quantities of foodstuffs to our neighbours.

“Having sense in the NPP, means implementing policies, which, according to the latest Ghana Living Standards Survey, has resulted in declining unemployment rate from 11.9 per cent in 2015 to 7.3 per cent in 2019.

“I’m happy with and prefer the NPP’s sense”, he noted.