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Minority members in Parliament are livid at President John Mahama for suggesting they sleep in the House and allow loans to be approved without proper scrutiny.

The President was responding to accusations from the vice presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that the government is engaging in reckless borrowing.

The NPP’s government according to president Mahama also contributed 41 percent of the nation’s external debt stock, which stands at GHc14 billion.

Angered by the President’s comments, Dominic Nitiwul on Eyewitness News said
“…My first stop was to descend into the gutters like he has done and use hasher words on him. But on second thought I realized that he doesn’t deserve even me to descend from where I am, to come to the gutter where he is to respond to him in that manner.”

He stated, “I will not do that because the people of Ghana deserve a president who can be respected but not a president who will set himself to be insulted on a daily basis and I know this will happen. I may decide not to descend but some people will descend to that gutter and the words they will use on him, Mr. President, you will never like it.”

On the issue of the loans, Dominic Nitiwul said only external loans pass through parliament.

“First of all he should know that only external loans come to Parliament. Loans that are external don’t come to parliament or loans that are raised by government or a corporate bodies like syndicated loans by a bank in Ghana. But when it comes to a loan that government raises, it doesn’t come to Parliament,” he said.

The legislator argued, “the first thing the president ought to have known is that… Ghana’s debt today that is close to $92 billion has not passed through Ghana’s parliament.

"Even just in the last quarter the raised close to GH¢8 billion, it didn’t come to Parliament. So obviously when the people of Ghana are now asking why you have incurred such debt, they are right.”