People on Twitter are expressing varied reactions after former president John Dramani Mahama posted an emoji reaction to president Akufo-Addo's recent call on his peers across Africa to desist from begging the West.
Mahama on Thursday morning posted a double emoji of monkeys with eyes closed after retweeting a post by a former Nigerian Senator, Shehu Sani.
Sani juxtaposed Ghana's current economic engagements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Akufo-Addo's call to not beg the West.
He concluded in a December 14 tweet that Akufo-Addo was using one hand to take IMF support and using the other hand to caution his peers.
"Ghana’s President is collecting IMF loan with the right hand and using the left hand to warn African Governments against begging the west for money," the tweet read.
Those reacting to Mahama's non-verbal / non-text post are either seeing the funny side of it or calling him out for triviaizing an important issue.
Mahama has over the last few months made presentations on Ghana's economic situation, he has proferred solutions to the challenges and asked government to take steps to ease the burden the population was facing.
Read some reactions below:
Twitter user by name Caleb @lookatmenowyh responded: "you call yourself president, you don’t even think about your people. How can you be happy for this? sigh"
tackie theophiluq @TTheophiluq also replied: "IMF belongs to every country not the west therefore going for a loan from an organisation you belong to is not begging."
EvAnS Ne-Yo @Evans_NeYo hit back at the former president: "You went to IMF also."
StarBoy @StarboyPizzle mounted a defense: "That’s why he didn’t shamelessly go and stand anywhere to preach against begging or borrowing."
Prof. Kofi @iam_dheryk opted to look at the light side: "You can really troll eii," he tweeted.
WE ARE ALL KWAKU @Saint_Chevna opted to make a political appeal: "The youth cries for your rescue sir. We desperately need you in 2024 Action nkotee, JM b3ba 2024."
What Akufo-Addo told peers at the US-Africa summit
Akufo-Addo called on African countries to cut off begging from the West to earn global respect and move away from old-aged perceptions of the continent.
Delivering remarks at the ongoing US-Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington DC, President Akufo-Addo extolled Africa’s skills and manpower which he believes can bring significant change when well harnessed.
“If we stop being beggars and spend African money inside the continent, Africa will not need to ask for respect from anyone, we will get the respect we deserve. If we make it prosperous as it should be, respect will follow,” President Akufo-Addo is quoted by BBC.com.
“Africans are more resilient outside the continent than inside. We must bear in mind that to the outside world, [there’s] nothing like Nigeria, Ghana or Kenya, we are simply Africans. Our destiny as people depends on each other,” he added.
President Akufo-Addo’s remarks come after Ghana on December 13, 2022, secured a Staff-Level Agreement with the International Monetary Fund for US$3 billion under an Extended Credit Facility (ECF).
A screenshot of Mahama's tweet reaction