A firebrand of the ruling National Democratic Congress and Convener of the Research and Advocacy Platform Felix Kwakye Ofosu has described as “slip” wrong figures provided by President John Mahama during the IEA Presidential Debate on the training of Ghanaian doctors in Cuba. Felix Kwakye Ofosu was however critical of the New Patriotic Party flagbearer accusing him of lying and deliberate falsehood on the same matter. The President in answering a question on how he will improve health delivery in the country if retained in office, said among other things that he had initiated a Cuban arrangement in which Ghanaian students will be trained as doctors in Cuba. His contender Nana Addo in the debate questioned the financial prudence of the Cuban arrangement which he said costs, 105,000 cedis. He argued the amount was too exorbitant, given that Ghanaian doctors are trained here at 30,000 cedis far cheaper than what the Cuban arrangement is offering. President John Mahama in a rebuttal at the debate accused the opposition leader of conjuring figures, and sought to clarify that the correct amount spent on training each doctor was $5,000 and not the 105,000 cedis as Nana Addo would have the world believe. On Joy FM and MultiTV news analysis programme Newsfile, Saturday, the NPP Director of Communications Nana Akomea said the president could not have been telling the truth on the Cuban matter. He presented two letters, one from the chief of staff, and the other a cabinet memo signed by the then Health Minister Yieleh Chireh which pegged the cost of training at a doctor at $50,000.00. Nana Akomea said the president was privy to all these memos, acted on them and yet gave a wrong figure in the Tamale debate. “Where did he get the $5,000 from?” he quizzed. Felix Kwakye Ofosu answered saying the president slipped. “Instead of mentioning 5,000, he mentioned 50,000,” he explained. He could not however forgive the NPP flagbearer, accusing him of deliberately lying and churning out false figures for propaganda purposes. Felix Kwakye Ofosu argued the NPP had gone haywire for months accusing government of shortchanging the Ghanaian populace in this Cuban arrangement. He insisted the NPP flagbearer should have gotten his figures right and cannot be forgiven for peddling lies.
