The former president, John Dramani Mahama, exhibited gross ignorance of the finance ministers' visit to China during his campaign interaction with the delegates of the Mpohor constituency. It is recalled that on March 23, 2023, the NDC's presidential primary campaign took the former president to the western region and to the Mpohor constituency.

In the former president's interaction with the delegates, he touched on the finance minister's recent trip to China, where he ignorantly declared to the delegates that the finance minister was in China to beg for debt cancellation. According to him, this move has reduced Ghana to nothing but a mockery.

I found this assertion made by the former president as an exhibition of gross ignorance of basic monetary economics. As a former vice president who assumed the position of chairman of the government's economic management team, he is expected to know better when it comes to matters of the economy than to engage in frivolous propaganda.

Mr. former president, since you failed to show the differences between a debt respite and a debt cancellation, it would be appropriate if you were introduced to these two distinctive words so that you would know what the finance minister's recent visit to China was about. The finance minister's visit to China was to sort out debt respite, not debt cancellation, as you claimed.

Mr. Former President, debt respite is a temporary suspension of debt payments. This means that for a certain period, a debtor is not required to make any payment on their debt.

On the other hand, debt cancellation is the complete revocation or forgiveness of a debt. This means that the debtor is no longer required to make any payments on the debt, and the debt is essentially wiped off.

Debt cancellation is typically reserved for extreme circumstances, such as when a debtor is unable to pay their debts due to a long-term financial hardship.
Mr. former president, note that debt respite and debt cancellation are not interchangeable terms.

Debt respite is a temporary solution that can provide relief for countries that are struggling financially, but it does not erase the debt. Debt cancellation, on the other hand, refers to the revocation or forgiveness of the debt entirely.

Should China grant Ghana the debt respite that the finance minister has sorted out, in the unlikely event that you become president again, won't you service the debt that Ghana owes China because it granted Ghana a respite?