John Dramani Mahama has been under fire from the New Patriotic Party (NPP), claiming that he is unfit to lead Ghana once more.

The NPP charged that the former President wrecked the economy during his administration.

On March 2, 2023, Mr. Mahama announced his candidacy for president at the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ho, in the Volta Region, and attacked the Akufo-Addo-led administration for its poor handling of the economy.

The situation the former President said has led to the majority of Ghanaians fleeing the country in search of greener pastures.

“With the limited fiscal space, we are likely to inherit because of the mismanagement of the economy under NPP. There are many who say that my words, just before leaving office in 2016, that posterity will be my judge, have proven prophetic in the face of the disastrous performance of the NPP government and their harrowing dismantling of our country’s prospects. This government has been clueless and, in many ways, callous. We are saddled with debt, and we have been downgraded by every rating agency and inflation has gone off the roof, sending people into abject poverty,” Mr. Mahama indicated.

He added, “it should worry us deeply that the average young Ghanaian would grasp any opportunity to flee the despondent climate under which they live in favour of even the most menial jobs in other countries. We have always had our people going in search of greener pastures abroad, but the current mass exodus of active workers and professionals is profoundly worrying”.

Responding to this on Eyewitness News, the Communications Director of the NPP, Richard Ahiagbah said the former President cannot reverse the situation if given a second chance to rule the country.

He rubbished the former President’s claims saying, “people will always sojourn out of this country, when people go, they will come back. If he’s making that as a basis to show that he has the capacity to reverse it, nothing in his records shows that he can. There’s no proof to substantiate what he’s saying”.

“The statistics show that he has no capacity that he claims he has to make this economy work. He never grew the economy 1 inch when he had the chance to be President. He cannot talk about the economy, he cannot talk about people leaving this country. Now he wants to come again, we have to let him know that we kicked him out, and he’s no longer eligible by his performance”.

The NPP’s Communications Director said the former President has never managed an economy in a difficult time, hence his assertion.

“He [Mahama] has never managed an economy in a difficult time before, he has not managed an economy in COVID-19 before. What was the situation under his government?” he asked.