Former President John Mahama has taken swipe at some members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), describing them as people who are self-seeking opportunists whose main interest is to enrich themselves and their relatives.

He said the attitude of not prioritising Ghana raises questions on patriotism among some Ghanaians.

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Former President Mahama speaking during the maiden lecture of the Ghana Institute of Social Democracy, a political training institute set up by the NDC said people are no longer interested in how they can work to better the lives of Ghanaians but, rather, that of their own.

He said: "We all think about ourselves first, our families second, our parties third maybe our communities fourth and Ghana comes a fifth or even tenth."

Mahama pointed out that "Nationalism and patriotism have become very deficient today. Absolutely nobody thinks about the country first."

Speaking on the political training institute, he said the school is aimed at ensuring that members of the NDC are grounded in the ideals of the party.

READ ALSO: Ghanaians don’t put Ghana first – Mahama

He said "The thinking was that it will be set up after we entered multi-party democracy but for 25 years our party has continued without setting up its ideological and party training school, and so I want to congratulate all those who have been behind the setting up of this institute.

"It is a very useful institute and it is going to be a source of knowledge not only to party cadres but for people who have the ideological orientation of social democracy to gain ideas of leadership, nationalism and patriotism. I am very happy and I want to congratulate those who have brought this idea to birth."