Former President John Dramani Mahama has dismissed President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's claims that his presidency was marked by persistent power outages, popularly known as ‘dumsor.’

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer has labelled the remarks as false and unbecoming of a sitting president.

Addressing the nation on Monday, 25th November, President Akufo-Addo criticised Mr. Mahama’s leadership, branding him a “failed president” who lacked the competency to secure a second term.

He specifically questioned the NDC’s proposed “24-hour economy” policy, describing it as unfeasible given Mahama’s track record during the energy crisis.

“If he could not keep the lights on for 12 hours during his tenure as president, how can he sustain a 24-hour economy? Stop that lies,” President Akufo-Addo stated.

In a fiery response during his tour of the Western Region on Tuesday, 26 November 2024, Mr. Mahama refuted the accusations and accused the president of spreading falsehoods.

“I expect that when NPP is telling lies, they’ll leave it to the younger ones and the junior ones to do. But when the senior ones like Nana Akufo-Addo say that ‘dumsor’ was not solved before they came, I heard him say that if we could not keep the lights on, how can we run a 24-hour economy?” Mr. Mahama countered.

The former president defended his administration’s handling of the energy crisis, maintaining that the issue had been resolved before his tenure ended in January 2017.

“In 2016, ‘dumsor’ had been solved. Nobody’s lights went off in 2016, nobody had load shedding in 2016, that is on record,” the NDC flagbearer noted.

Taking a moral and spiritual stance, Mr. Mahama cited the Bible to reinforce his position, warning against dishonesty.

“You know, liars cannot go to heaven and let me give you a Bible quotation, Proverbs Chapter 19:9. It says, those who bear false witness will not go unpunished, and the liars will be destroyed,” he added.