Mahama has opened himself up for attacks – Karbo

A deputy Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Anthony Karbo believes that President John Dramani Mahama has opened himself up for attacks on his personality following his denigrating comments over the party’s media encounter on Wednesday.

President Mahama in his last stop of his #ChangingLives #TransformingGhana tour in Ho on Thursday, described the NPP’s Wednesday media encounter as a “rabbit” press conference.

According to him, the presser that was organized by the elephant family to respond to his earlier “candid comments” was unnecessary, noting that he does not intend to comment further on the matter having already made his point.

“I’ve had my say and don’t intend to respond to that press conference,” he said to a rapturous crowd at the Jubilee Park on Thursday evening.

“I said in Accra that when a hunter heads to the bush to go and shoot an elephant, he doesn’t make time to stand and shoot at any rabbit that passes along. The press conference is a rabbit press conference. I won’t have time for rabbits because I am going to shoot an elephant,” he explained.

“On the day that Opana was doing his press conference to respond to me, somebody was also doing a press conference to say he is taking them to court,” he mocked the NPP citing the current the division in their ranks to buttress his argument.

But Anthony Karbo in a sharp response in an interview with Yaa Serwa Akoto on Kasapa 102.3 FM said a thorough analysis of the President’s comments indicate that he is a confused man who has opened himself up for demeaning attacks on his personality.

“Mahama has opened himself up for attacks with his kind of commentary he has been running on the NPP of late. From all indications, the President is a confused man,” he said.

He said he was very surprised that the President chose to rather attack the NPP when Ghanaians were looking up to him to address the erratic power supply confronting the country.

Nonetheless, the Danquah-Busia-Dombo tradition has taken his insults in good faith and he would soon hear from them.

On Wednesday, the NPP responded to the President’s earlier comments that the party’s running mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, is unqualified to question is competence.

Mr. Mahama had earlier told a gathering of National Democratic Congress (NDC) followers in Accra that he would only welcome criticisms of not being competent from the country’s former Presidents, John Jerry Rawlings and John Agyekum Kufuor, since they are the only ones who know how it takes to run a nation.

But the NPP’s Acting National Chairman, Freddie Blay, in response said, “We do not think it is fair to the President for us to compare Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia to him. One, Dr Bawumia is not incompetent. Two, Dr Bawumia is not corrupt. Three, Dr Bawumia knows about economic management. Four, Dr Bawumia is competent”.

He added, “if competence is defined by a President who promised to end dumsor in 2013, and has been competently shifting that expiry date since then and with no end in sight, then we rest our case.”