<<Print>>A political lecturer says President Mahama's comments to the effect that it is only those who have been presidents before that can question his competencies, can only be "an emotional statement".
President Mahama in addressing party supporters in Accra on Monday said “I will take that word from President [Jerry John] Rawlings or President [John Agyekum] Kufuor,”
“What do you know about competence?” he questioned the New Patriotic Party's vice presidential candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, adding "My competence is not for them to judge. It is for the people of Ghana to judge.”
But his comments have attracted sharp criticism from some Ghanaians.
Speaking on the issue on TV3's Midday News Tuesday, Dr. Edward Brenya, said the statement by the President was more of an emotional one than a political one.
“I believe what President Mahama said was more of an emotional statement than a political statement, Dr Brenya who is a political and sociology lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology said.
"I saw it as Mahama who was actually speaking like a priest instead of a politician," he stated.
The New Patriotic Party Deputy Communication Director, Perry Okudzeto said what the President said were not the sorts of comments they expected from him
“We are citizens of this country…and as much as possible, as an opposition we have the right to critique the government and its performance,” he added.
On his part, Koku Anyidoho, Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, said although everybody is justified to critique the government, it has to be in good faith.
"What is unacceptable is when a physician who cannot heal himself attempts to heal others by using certain language and that’s the point the president was making".
He claimed it is Dr Bawumia who has shown gross incompetence within the eight months that he led his party on a wild goose chase in the Supreme Court on the election petition.
"When it comes to incompetence, he [Bawumia]has displayed it at every level. All the mess in the NPP today is because of the mess of Akufo- Addo and Bawumia," he said.