Bawumia slams Mahama for neglecting the north when he was president

The Vice President and flagbearer of the NPP, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, says former President John Mahama supervised the retrogression of the North under his regime as Vice President and President.

Addressing thousands of people in Wa during his campaign tour of the Upper West Region on Monday, Dr. Bawumia said that unlike Mahama, who has been both Vice President and President before, records show that he (Bawumia) as Vice President has ensured more development in the North.

To him, Mr. Mahama exploited and neglected the Northern sector while in office.

"This election, the 2024 election, is a choice between two Northerners; between Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and former President John Mahama. John Mahama has been President of Ghana before. Dr. Bawumia has only been Vice President of Ghana. I have not been President of Ghana before. So the people of Wa West Constituency, the people of the Upper West Region, and the people of the five Northern Regions, you are in the best position to tell which of your two sons should be in the position to be the President of Ghana."

"You know the work each of us has done and you can ask us what did you do when you were in the position. So I want to ask you, the good people of Wa West Constituency - what project did John Mahama do for you when he was the President of Ghana? Can you point to the project he executed? He was President and wielded full power under Article 54 of the constitution to take decisions for development and where he wanted to take development," he said.

Dr. Bawumia continued, "When he wanted to develop the North, he set up the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority and what did SADA do with all those hundreds of millions of dollars that they put in SADA? Did you see SADA in Wechiau? Did you see SADA in Wa West Constituency? They said they used the money to rear guinea fowls. We asked where the guinea fowls were, they said they had flown to Burkina Faso. There was no evidence of their work after all those monies in the five Northern Regions. They cannot show us the work of what they left for Northern development through their major vehicle which was SADA."

He also said John Mahama and his NDC never completed a single road in the Upper West and East Regions during their eight years in office between 2009 and 2017.

"Let me tell you something. In the 8 years of the NDC government between 2009 and 2016, of which John Mahama was part as Vice President and President, the NDC did not complete one major road in the Upper West and Upper East Regions. Just one road in 8 years and they could not complete it in both of these major regions of the north. And the whole regime of the NDC in 8 years, not one social intervention. I asked John Mahama to name just one social intervention and he couldn't name it," Dr. Bawumia stated.

The NPP, on the contrary, Dr. Bawumia said, has established massive development projects for the residents in the North, outlining some of the projects which included Free SHS and which he stressed Mahama kicked against.

"If you ask the NPP, we have several social interventions. We brought the National Health Insurance. Today, it is working but they boycotted Parliament when we were bringing it and we have brought Free Senior High School education under Nana Akufo-Addo. John Mahama said if he had the money, he wouldn't use it for free SHS education."

"We knew and I knew that where we had the poorest people in the North, we needed Free SHS education and we brought Free SHS to the North and our children are attending in their numbers. The total enrollment for Senior High School has increased from 800,000 to 1.4 million in 7 years. It tells you that our people were dying for Free SHS education and today the five Northern Regions have the highest enrollment into Senior High School education. But this is what John Mahama said we should not do. He said if he had the money, he would not do it."

He further said, "He (Mahama) set up SADA and we all saw what happened. We have come with new ideas. When we came into office, I made the proposal; I went to the President and said we need Agenda 111. We need hospitals in every district in Ghana which doesn't have a hospital and he said is it possible? And I said it is possible."

"In the five Northern Regions, we have 28 districts including the Wa West District without district hospitals. We have implemented Agenda 111 and today you can see that the Agenda 111 hospital in Wechiau is 80% complete. And the contractor says he will finish it by November and In Sha Allah, if he finishes, I will come back in November and commission it."

Dr. Bawumia also listed other projects including roads, classroom blocks, and health facilities to prove that even as Vice President, he has championed a better developmental agenda for the North than his political opponent, Mahama.

He assured the people that he will do more for them and the entire nation if given the opportunity to serve as President.

"I am for all and I want to take the whole of the North and the whole of Ghana to a new level."