President John Mahama has said he knows how to accept criticism better than his arch political rival in the 2016 presidential race.

Justifying his recent description of Nana Akufo-Addo as a “divisive dictator”, Mr Mahama told host of Good Evening Ghana, Paul Adom-Otchere on Metro TV on Tuesday September 6 in an interview that the New Patriotic Party flag bearer threw first mud.

“For four years he [Akufo-Addo] has described me as incompetent, for four years he has described me as visionless, for four years he has described me as a thief. He says when he comes to power he won’t steal your money. What does that mean? It means I am stealing Ghanaians’ money.

“I’m a politician and I know it’s an occupational hazard; sometimes to have your opponents vilify you, so, I don’t take it as anything… I am campaigning and I am saying that we need at this stage of Ghana’s history somebody who can bring the country together and my opponent’s track record does not fit that role because in his own party, he is not able to bring his people together.

“Today; it is the truth, people can’t criticize Akufo-Addo in NPP, if you criticize him, they will suspend you or sack you or his attack dogs will set on you. Ask people in NPP, they are quiet, they can see the bus is going to crash but if they say it they will attack them. So they are waiting for the bus to crash, and when it crashes, I said they will take the bus and send it to Kokompe to repair it and put it back on the road for 2021,” Mr Mahama said.

According to him, Mr Akufo-Addo “should learn to accept criticism, I do, people insult me, vilify me, I don’t utter a word. And, so, when I say you cannot unify your party so you cannot unify Ghana and I think that the kind of president Ghana needs at this stage in our history is one who can bring us together… you must prove a track record that you can bring people together and most people do not think that he can do that.”