Kufuor's lecture was a "pedestrian political platform talk" - PPP

The Progressive People's Party (PPP) is accusing former President Kufuor of misleading Ghanaians with what they describe as “his blind partisan thoughts.”

The PPP says the former president, who has been praised for his statesman-like lifestyle after he left office in 2009, “would have served his purpose better if he had chosen to stay at the statesman's level instead of playing the NPP propaganda game.”

This was contained in a statement signed by the National Secretary of the PPP, Kofi Asamoah-Siaw, on Friday.

Former President Kufuor who addressed the 2nd Liberty Lecture organized by the Danquah Institute on Thursday evening said “I have no doubt the NPP flagbearer, Nana Akufo Addo, is the most rounded and experienced in the field and also has the tried and tested team of would-be ministers and government officials.”

He went on to describe Nana Addo as the “most rounded and experienced in the field.”

But the former president’s comments seem to have offended the PPP. The party in a harsh-worded statement said “as a former president we had expected Mr. Kufuor to use a formal lecture to educate and inform Ghanaians in a manner that promotes truthfulness and national prosperity. Unfortunately, he chose to turn the lecture into a pedestrian political platform talk.”

The party says former President Kufuor got his analysis wrong. The party is questioning the criteria used by the former president to arrive at the conclusion that Nana Addo was the most experienced candidate ahead of the December polls.

“With all due respect, can Mr. Kufuor really claim that his party's presidential candidate is the best in the field? By what criteria? Competence matters, Character matters, Proven experience matters, Incorruptibility matters,” the PPP said.

According to the PPP, Nana Addo failed to make any showing among the best performing Ministers during Mr. Kufuor’s tenure as president and that his opinion on Nana Addo does not hold water.

“Is Mr. Kufuor telling Ghanaians that Mr. Akufo-Addo was one of his best performing ministers? Many surveys were done about the performance of his ministers during his tenure as President and Akufo-Addo did not rate anywhere near the top.”

The PPP is therefore asking for proof of what Nana Addo as the then Attorney General and Minister of Justice, did to improve the lot of Ghanaians.

“What did his former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and Foreign minister do to show leadership and competence? What did Nana Akufo-Addo do to improve the lot of Ghanaians as a minister of state? What has the NPP flag bearer done in his experience to show that he has the ability to lead Ghana to achieve economic and social transformation?”

The PPP indicated that the party will, in due course, release a fact-based comparative analysis that prove that their candidate, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, is “head and shoulders above” President Mahama of the NDC and Nana Akufo-Addo of the NPP.

The party therefore called on Ghanaians to “reject, empty promises and propaganda masquerading as the truth.”