Sika mpɛ dede, nanso ɛkɔm frɛ dede – Duffuor jabs Akufo-Addo’s

A flagbearer hopeful of the National Democratic Congress(NDC) Dr. Kwabena Duffuor has subtly jabbed President Akufo-Addo over his popular “Sika mpɛ dede” statement, saying Ghanaians cannot keep quiet when they are hungry.

President Akufo-Addo in his national address on Sunday, pointed out the challenges that landed Ghana in the current economic state and followed up with measures that his government had rolled out to stop the further depreciation of the Cedi against the Dollar and revamp the economy.

He buttressed his point with a French proverb.

He said: “Fellow Ghanaians. as the French would say. l’argent n’aime pas le bruit, to wit, money does not like noise, sika mpe dede.

“Where there is chaos, where there is noise. where there is unrest. you will not find money. If you talk down your money. it will go down. If you allow some unidentifiable person to talk down your money, it will go down,” he stressed.

But speaking at an event in Accra on Thursday to officially declare his intention to contest the NDC flagbearership, Dr. Duffuor who served under late President Mills as Minister of Finance stated there’s noise in the system simply because Ghanaians are hungry.

“We are a great nation and we have the capacity to build our economy again as we did from 2009 to 2012. Why are we suffering like this when we have the capacity, the resources? Why are we going through all these difficulties? Let us remember that even though Sika mpɛ dede, nanso ɛkɔm frɛ dede. We have everything but we are hungry as a people, why won’t I make noise?

“Because we have everything but not making use of what we have, we are suffering, talking. We are hungry Mr President. Let us all arise and build together to avoid the looming national disgrace.”