Ghana is not a basket case as being touted by “cynics” in the country, President John Mahama has said.

Speaking at the Adentan branch of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) on Sunday, 16 October, Mr Mahama said: “Outsiders have more faith in our country than we ourselves have in our country.”

“We think that our country is a basket case and whatever we do, we cannot make it, but you go outside and they appreciate what we are doing and say: ‘Look, you guys are doing well, you are on the right track, we believe that Ghana is one of the countries that is going to emerge in Africa’.

“And yet, when we come back home we have this cynical spirit. There are cynics and there are optimists. I happen to be an optimist. I’m a born optimist but unfortunately it looks like we a have a majority of cynics who believe that their lives can never get better, our nation can never get better. The extreme end of it is when somebody argues and says: ‘Why did we even become an independent country?’” Mr Mahama said.

Meanwhile, the President is taking his campaign to the Volta Region today, Monday, 17 October. The five-day campaign tour will see Mr Mahama visit at least 10 constituencies in the party’s stronghold.