The flagbearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party says the country cannot be sitting on wealth whilst its residents starve.

Nana Akufo-Addo believes the Mahama government he describes as incompetent is to blame for the starvation.

"We are sitting on gold and yet we are starving. We have a poor government in place that cannot do the work it is supposed to be doing and that is the problem we have in Ghana today.

"A government is going to use the money for the welfare of the people of Ghana not a government that is putting the monies of Ghana in their pockets," he said.

The NPP flagbearer was speaking at a rally in Nandom as part of his tour of the Upper West region.

Nana Akufo-Addo does not understand why Ghana has to be importing tomatoes, plantain and other foodstuffs from Burkina Faso and other neighboring countries when Ghana has what it takes to grow all that.

He again took a swipe at the president, accusing him of collapsing the single biggest social intervention program introduced by the New Patriotic Party.

"One of the biggest legacies of Kufuor was the National Health Insurance Scheme. It has collapsed under the John Mahama's NDC. When  the bill was going through Parliament, the NDC members in Parliament, including the then MP for Bole Bamboi, John Dramani Mahama walked out of the House. They didn't believe in the bill and walked out.

"It is not surprising that when they come into power this important tool of social engineering, of social stability of equity has been discarded and sent into the dustbin.

"We are going to bring it back," he said.