President Mahama, the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer, who had earlier accused the Nana Akufo-Addo of running away from a one-on-one debate and now says Ghanaians deserve a face up between the leading presidential contenders.

[contextly_sidebar id=”tnGVpjbzL3A4FpckxH1H13pCHHjIyV6o”]”I believe that Ghanaians deserve a debate between myself and Nana Akufo-Addo and I hope that they will respond and rise to the occasion,” the President said on Volta Star Radio during his campaign tour of the Volta Region.

He maintains that a prospective debate between the two will allow them to adequately settle their contrasting views on a number of issues especially matters pertaining to the economy.

“If we have a one-on-one debate, we will all have our figures and Ghanaians will be able to see who is telling the truth.”

President Mahama explained that such a debate would be important because, “when I threw the first challenge, I threw it because a lot of misinformation was being thrown all over the place and Nana Akufo-Addo and his running mate continue to misinform the Ghanaian public and that is why I said let us have a one-on-one debate.”

“If we have a one-on-one debate, we will all have our statistics and our figures and Ghanaians will be able to see who is telling the truth and who is not telling the truth and who is not telling it.”

“They say the economy is in crisis. If we have a debate, you will show why you think the economy is in crisis. The documents are all there. The statistics are there.”

President Mahama also said a debate between the two would help “the people of the country get to know their candidates better and be able to make a sound judgement on who they want to continue to lead them so yes I stand by the challenge I threw.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Trump, a real estate tycoon making his first run for public office, said Clinton’s long years of service represented “bad experience” with few results and suggested her disavowal of a trade deal with Asian countries was insincere.

For Trump, 70, the debate was a chance to appear disciplined. For Clinton, 68, it was an opportunity to reassure voters she could be trusted. It remained to be seen how voters would judge their performance.

In a sign investors saw Clinton as the winner, Asian shares recouped early losses on Tuesday and the dollar edged away from a one-month trough against the yen. Markets have tended to see Clinton as the candidate of the status quo.

In one of the more heated exchanges, the two candidates attacked each other for the controversy Trump stoked for years over whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States.

The president, who was born in Hawaii, released a long form birth certificate in 2011 to put the issue to rest. Only this month did Trump say publicly that he believed Obama was U.S.-born.

“He (Trump) has really started his political activity based on this racist lie that our first black president was not an American citizen. There was absolutely no evidence for it. But he persisted. He persisted year after year,” Clinton said.

Trump repeated his false accusation that Clinton’s failed 2008 presidential campaign against Obama had initiated the so-called “birther” issue.

“Nobody was pressing it, nobody was caring much about it … I was the one that got him to produce the birth certificate and I think I did a good job,” Trump said.

African-American voters overwhelmingly support Clinton, but Trump in recent weeks has said he believes his policy agenda would benefit them and said the policies of Obama and Clinton had failed to help black Americans.

He said Clinton’s arguments were disingenuous.

“When you try to act holier than thou, it really doesn’t work,” Trump said.

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Source: Reuters

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