It is rather Nana Akufo-Addo who is “confused and incompetent”, not President John Mahama and his government, deputy Minister of Communication Mr Felix Kwakye Ofosu has said.

The Government’s response follows comments by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer during a visit to Italy that conflicting comments by the President and his Finance Minister over whether or not there were plans to introduce taxes on pension and allowances betrayed the incompetence of the administration.

Mr Mahama tweeted to denied earlier media reports attributed to Mr Seth Terkper that a pension tax was in the offing, a situation Mr Akufo-Addo said smacked of a “confused” government.

“President says one thing, the Finance Minister says another. So who is telling us the truth? Are we going with the Finance Minister or with the President? There is complete confusion in his government,” he said, while addressing a town hall meeting in Modena, Italy, on Saturday as part of his visit.

“Mismanagement, corruption, and incompetence have brought us to where we are today. When the word ‘incompetent’ is used to describe his government, the president gets very upset. But this week we have seen another example,” the three-time presidential aspirant stated.

“The Finance Minister, Seth Terkper, told us that he was preparing to tax pensions and allowances. And his president, two days later, stated that they were not going to do anything like that. If this is not confusion in his government, then I don’t know what it is; and if this is not a sign of incompetence, then you would have to tell me what incompetence means,” the former Attorney General emphasised.

However, responding directly to Mr Akufo-Addo’s accusations on ‘The Strong Room’ (Class News’ election programme) on ‘12 Live’ (the mid-day news) on Monday June 6, Mr Ofosu Kwakye told Naa Deedei Tettey that: “Well the only incompetence and confusion has been demonstrated by Nana Addo himself.”

“We have long been aware of his disastrous leadership, which has all but destroyed the image of his party. I mean today when you mention the NPP, one only thinks of a party that is ravaged by violence, killings and what have you, so, if he wants an example of incompetence and confusion, it is right there before him,” he added.

He said: “One other attribute that we expect to look out for in leaders is candour, truth and sincerity, so, when leaders speak, they are expected to speak on the basis of information, they are expected to convey the truth, it would appear that Nana Addo is completely bereft of this attribute”.