2024 Elections: Ghanaian students in the US root for 'visionary and humble' Bawumia

Vice President and flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has earned the endorsements of a number of Ghanaian students in the United States.

The students, many of them undertaking Masters and PhD programs, minced no words in emphasizing the character of Dr. Bawumia and the impact he has made on the nation as vice president, thereby throwing their weight behind him to be elevated as president of Ghana.

Speaking at an event at Iowa University, which looked at the roles of vice presidents and also reviewed the book "Dr. Bawumia and the Modern vice presidency," written by Prof. Etse Sikanku, many Ghanaian students expressed their admiration for Dr. Bawumia and their confidence in him to lead the country as the next president.

Apart from Dr. Bawumia's work and impact as Vice President, the students also commended a number of his positive traits, including his humility, compassion, promotion of religious tolerance, and his decency as a political communicator.

Below are comments by some of the students as captured:

1. Evans Asante

Yes, I see something in him that other people don't see. It's not always about the economy, although it's essential. But the other things I see in him, man, he spoke about humility.

So usually we see politicians doing certain things like washing clothes and cooking banku and all these things.

I see Bawumia actually lays on the ground when he goes to chiefs and kings and all that. So I studied him for a while and I realized this is not fake.

We spoke about compassion, we saw what he did with the lepers. And for me, now I mean, once I'm a student, I'll definitely end up maybe in academia.

And this is someone who is an academic and economist. And so I keep seeing we are definitely going to have a chance to have a president who is actually an economist, who understands economics and also comes from academia. He has changed the views of the political community.

The insults are still there, but they have reduced drastically. This man was organizing lectures.

I keep saying this man brought the NPP into power. He brought the NPP into power because of his lectures. And they are still there. People keep going back to it.

He was so powerful in this campaign when they were in opposition, so I saw certain things in him that people still don't see.

People fight with me always, they are always fighting with me like, why are you supporting this guy? I mean, look at the dollar rate, look at the dollar rate, it's so high. Okay, so are we only going to use the dollar rate?

I mean, that's not fair. He's not even the president. So why are you being so hard on him? I mean, I think he has been scapegoated.

He's been scapegoated. And I think Bawumia has a silent majority. I just feel that thing. People like him, and they are afraid to speak out. If you speak, they will insult you. Thank you.

2. Enock Asante

I was making the point about him coming from a family background where they had a lot of children and then his father being who he was at the time, making provision for all of his children.

He being one of them, I mean, one amongst many children. I think growing up, he had to actually struggle. He had to actually go through the mill, like every other person.

I mean, looking at the time that he was coming up, a lot of things that he has actually been able to achieve is because of the hard work that actually puts him on the ground. And then the part about humility.

So, I was telling Evans (friend) something. I don't see it to be fake.

People think it's just a political gimmick. It's just something to appeal to the people.

So that they are talking. Appeal to people down there. I mean, create an impression that, well, he's humble and all of that.

But I mean, you see many well-trained people coming from the north, kneeling down to actually greet the chiefs. It's part of their culture.

Any well-bred Northerner actually embraces that part of their culture as a sign of respect to somebody who's elder.

As a sign of respect to somebody who's of maybe some higher pedestal or anything like that.

If he's doing it now, I mean, it just goes back to the point that he actually came from a home that was actually, an institution that was actually properly managed, they were actually more cultured at home.

And so if somebody makes the point about him being humble for the camera and all of that, him going into buses, shaking people, I actually don't get that point because then you actually don't know that man.

And I feel like he coming in fresh now to actually run for President is why maybe people don't know much about his personal history.

I don't think the history behind Bawumia has been emphasized enough. More than he is an economist. That's the only part that has been echoed. If you actually want to understand a person, you actually have to go back.

The beginning justifies the end. If you want to understand how somebody has been, who he is now, understand how the person came up, the things that he actually went through, the kind of hallmarks, his background, his values as a person, some of the things that he actually embraced coming out.

And so recently you see people talk about him being Alhaji Timothy and all of that, trying to paint or tag him like he's trying to pander to Christianity to gather votes or anything.

He also goes to speak to the fact that people actually understand where it's coming from.

To have half of your siblings being Muslim, half of your siblings being Christian, to have your mother being Christian who converted to Islam, your father being Muslim.

I mean, religious tolerance is something that's meant to be bred from home. It is not something that you just walk into just because of politics.

Because you would have to debate with your brothers and sisters on Christian values right from the get-go. Because you have them having different views.

There is a likelihood that you will be in the same house, you have some disparities.

And then if you are able to embrace all of this, it becomes an embodiment of your past and present.

And you actually have a connection as a person. And if you are that person, I mean devoid of whatever, I mean, now comes into the political limelight and he is trying to exhibit some of these things as part of the values that he actually embraces, trying to bridge the gap, the religious gap.

And he says that, well, I can work in here, I can actually appreciate what they are doing and I can actually hold my values that it's a misstep past in my religion. I don't see why that's supposed to be a problem.

This is him as a person. And that's what some of us actually see and actually appreciate in a man. Because one thing about choosing leaders is not just about what maybe the paper is saying about them.

It's not what somebody is saying about them. It's not what they are communicating in terms of policy. But I also have to actually understand the man. I have to understand what he embraces, the values of the man, his convictions, what he actually stands for.

I mean, those things are very, very critical in actually choosing a leader, somebody to actually do something, to actually trust in somebody, to actually make some change. They have to actually believe in what they also believe in. So yeah, I feel like that's what actually makes Bawumia distinct.

3. Daniel Ayisi, MA Student

So first of all, my name is Daniel Ayisi and I'm in the Department of Agricultural Education and I'm a graduate student.

Yeah, so what makes Dr. Bawumia different among all vice presidents that I have known so far is for me, it starts way back from 2012 when the Supreme Court issue came in. He came out because of the election petition.

Yes, because I remember like in 2008, people didn't know who Bawumia really was. And even among his party, like people were doubting, like people were not in support of him when he was called to be the vice president of the then candidate.

Yeah, people were not in support. But 2012, when he came in the election petition, people saw, wow, this like an intellectual machine.

Yeah, so, for me, and from that day, like right from that time, he has really impacted in terms of even like public lectures, how like vice president, because all along you see main focus has been on the president.

They do like, their lectures, they do everything, campaign and everything. But once Bawumia stepped in public lectures and everything, it got to a point that he was even like visible more than even the president. True. Right.

So he has impacted even how to like communicate. And you could see that his communication follows a certain trend. He doesn't insult. You know, he goes for me, academically, he goes straight to the point.

This is what like he wants to talk about. And that's what like he stands for. He talks about if it's economics, he talks about economics.

And then he always used this kind of, we call it like in communication, we call it logos, kind of providing figures to convince people, audience about what or to buttress what you are talking about.

And that's the reason, the justification. Yes. And he does that. He brings like statistics to show from the past, present, and then

the future to buttress his point, to like emphasize what he's trying to say. And to me, like communication-wise, he has really, really been

Watch the latest episode of Everyday People on GhanaWeb TV below: