Ghanas former president, John Mahama has discredited claims that the National Democratic Congress, which is socialist in orientation, is against businesses.

According to him, private businesses prospered the most during the tenure of the NDC.

Speaking at the first enrollment ceremony at the NDC’s ideological Institute in Accra, Mr Mahama called on party faithful to have pride in the party’s ideologies.

“Indeed some of the parties that call themselves conservative parties have moved left from centre and today are involved in social safety nets like National Health Insurance, Free Senior High School and others that are all social democratic programmes and so we must be proud of our ideological orientation and we must redefine it so that people clear the misconception they have about social democracy.

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“We must let people know that our party is not against business. In times that our party has been in government, businesses have prospered the most. Even so-called conservative and property-owning parties in Africa cannot afford to be the kind of conservative parties that we find elsewhere,” he stated.

He also denied claims that the NDC’s school was set up to brainwash people.

“Contrary to widespread perception, institutes like this are not institutes for indoctrinating people. The perception in the First Republic was that the ideological institutes were set up to brainwash and to become ideologically robust of the governing party”.