He said whilst in opposition the NPP caricatured the government he led and created the impression as if it had answers to all the problems facing the country at the time.

He said when he as president admitted that the economy was facing challenges, the NPP in opposition with its so-called economic wizard claimed the economy was in crisis and that he had the magic wand to turn things around.

Now in government, the ex-president said the NPP is facing the reality of leading a country an, experience he said is markedly different from the talkshop in opposition.

He was speaking at a mammoth rally to commemorate the  25^th Anniversary of the opposition National Democratic Congress, Saturday.

At the colourful ceremony which had most of the party bigwigs attending, including ex-president Rawlings, the ex-president John Mahama did not fail to take another swipe at the NPP government over the issue of political vigilantism.

Under Akufo-Addo, he said political party vigilante groups now have the audacity to beat up appointees of the president and even go ahead to disrupt court processes.

According to him, under his administration, he allowed the trial of the Montie 3 suspects to take its full course until the suspects were jailed for four months.

He said it was only after the convicts had spent more than a month in prison that he exercised his powers as president to grant them amnesty.

Mocking the new administration, the ex-president said the “no evidence” chorus being sang by the prosecutors in the Delta Force scandal is unfortunate.

Unity

With his own party under pressure with members firing salvos from different quarters, the ex-president called for unity of purpose in the NDC as it prepares for the 2020 elections.

Saturday’s rally is the first time the two ex-presidents and leaders of the NDC met on a public platform after ex-president John Rawlings openly criticised his compatriot John Mahama during the commemoration of the June 4 anniversary early this week.

 Ex-president John Rawlings claimed corruption increased to insane levels under John Mahama and accused the former president of departing from the values of probity and accountability which formed the basis under which the party was formed.

 According to him it was chiefly because of the corruption that the NDC lost power to the governing New Patriotic Party.

Mr Mahama has yet to make any comment on the matter but when he took over the podium at the Ashaiman rally he said the leaders and members must put all their differences behind them and forge ahead for victory in 2020.

The ex-president clarified that he did not blame the party for the defeat in the 2016 elections but said it is only when the party is strengthened that they win an election.