Akufo- Addo settles for Bawumia

The 2012 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has resolved to retain Dr Mahamudu Bawumia as his running mate if reelected to lead the party into the 2016 general elections.

“By God’s willing if everything goes well for me, I’m very prepared to keep that team again for the 2016 elections,” he said during an interview on Tamale-based Justice FM on Friday after he was given a rousing welcome to the Northern regional capital.

He has, however, indicated his preparedness to not only follow the convention but also consult the leadership of the party over his choice of candidate when the time comes for that crucial decision to be taken.

It would be the third time the two-time NPP flagbearer has selected Bawumia as his running mate after two unsuccessful attempts at the presidency.

This time round, he is optimistic that the God would crown their efforts.

Dr Bawumia, who was together with him in the studio, decried the poor state of the Ghanaian economy which he said has been left “in a very bad shape.”

“I think this economy is in crisis, and if you ask me in terms of liquidity, we are on the verge of bankruptcy and I do not say these words lightly because if you look at the current state of our net national reverses in terms of foreign exchange…they are less than US$1billion; they are around US$700million,” he emphasized.

Interestingly, the Dr Bawumia said, “If you look at the bills that we have pay, they are much more than that; so you are in a situation where the government does not have money to pay statutory payments… and we are an oil producing country, cocoa producing country, gold producing country,” he noted.

Meanwhile, he said the ruling Mahama-led NDC government has borrowed money more than any other in the history of the nation, saying, “We are in a position where our debts has spiraled to a level where the interest payment on the debt alone…we are having difficulty meeting our obligation as a government.”

“This is why I believe that the problem has created a crisis of confidence in our economy which is reflected in our currency being the worse performing currency in the world,” he stated.

Furthermore, the 2012 running mate added that “when you have this state of affairs, you cannot just sit down and say the economy is in good shape or we are facing challenges; we are in a crisis and we have to admit it.”