Bawumia speaks against mudslinging

The 2008 Vice Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Mahamudu Bawumia has deplored the politics of insults and mudslinging in the country, cautioning that it puts off many "decent people" from venturing into politics. He, nevertheless, expressed a determination not be distracted by it.

He said what Ghana needed was a new type of leadership committed to debating and competing with ideas.

Dr Bawumia, speaking on Joy FM's current Affairs programme, *Front Page*, said politicians needed to send out messages that were targeted at solving the basic problems of the people.

He condemned politics of lies and vile propaganda saying that the "the fact that someone is an NDC does not make him/her a less human being or a less Ghanaian."

"I have a lot of friends in the NDC, in the CPP and everywhere, they are all very good people," he noted, adding that the idea of always trying to bring someone down does not help in the development of the country.

He described the NDC vice presidential candidate, John Mahama as "a fine gentleman," adding that "we grew up together, our fathers were friends and our families are close."

He advised Ghanaians to shun the kind of self-serving ethnocentric divisionism that breeds conflict, stressing that the only battle worth fighting is that to defeat poverty and bridge the gap between the rich and poor.

He welcomed Nana Akufo-Addo's $1 billion Northern Development Authority, to be established to bridge the development gap between the north and south of the country. He promised that a similar model will be replicated to bring development in other areas across the country where deprivation and poverty is high.

For the soft spoken technocrat turned politician, the contributions of all governments must be acknowledged and appreciated.

He said all governments including the NDC contributed their quota to the development of the country.

However, he described the solid foundation laid by the NPP administration as phenomenal, offering the country a platform for economic transformation. He said the "future prospects of this country are bright." And, it was the desire to be at the forefront of helping to utilise these prospects to deliver prosperity to every Ghanaian that inspired him to take up the challenge to partner Nana Akufo-Addo as Vice Presidential candidate.

He told Ghanaians that Nana Akufo-Addo has an excellent vision of economic transformation and modernisation of the country and therefore appealed to everyone to join hands, vote massively for the NPP and give Nana Akufo-Addo the mandate to deliver on his "exciting" vision for Ghana.

Reacting to newspaper reports that money got missing under him at the Bank of Ghana, he said the story was sad and laughable.

The Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana said "if you understand the procedure involved in dealing with currency at the bank," you will not make such baseless and unfounded allegations against me.

According to him, the matter reported in the media was properly investigated and no adverse findings were made against anybody.

But for mischievous, malicious political reasons, the matter was thrown in the public domain following his nomination as the NPP Vice Presidential candidate.

He expressed regret that such things make many good people not want to go into politics.