Bawumia was ‘derogatory’ to NDC at Aliu’s memorial lecture

A Deputy Minister of Transport says though the two-time Vice-Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, is a “brilliant chap”, his choice of words during the maiden Aliu Mahama Memorial Lecture left much to be desired.

Joyce Bawah Mogtari believes Dr Bawumia could have chosen more appropriate words in the delivery of his address to drive home his point.

Discussing the issue on Metro TV’s ‘Good Morning Ghana’ program, the deputy minister was of the view that there is always a way to make a strong argument without courting controversy and knowing Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, he could have done better with his choice of words.

According to the soft spoken deputy Minster, “Dr. Bawumia is an amazing guy, brilliant chap. I am sure that if he had actually had some good recommendations on how things can be done properly to take us from one point to the next, we would all welcome and embrace it. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that”.

In her view, Dr Bawumia’s use of the word ‘Akonfem socialism’ to describe the state of the economy and the pervasive nature of corruption in the Ghanaian society was “derogatory”.

Hon. Joyce Bawah Mogtari’s comments come on the heels of the inaugural Aliu Mahama Memorial Lecture to launch the ‘Aliu Mahama Foundation’ in honour of the late Vice President, where Dr. Bawumia delivered a lecture that has generated intense public debate.

Dr Bawumia described the NDC’s Socialist Democratic ideals as “Akonfem Socialism”- taking from the majority poor and giving to the minority rich through corrupt means – which has made the ordinary Ghanaian worse off.

“Akonfem socialism is this new brand of socialism where government officials engage in “chopping” the meat to the bone. Rather than focusing on serving the people, our Akonfem socialists focus on coming up with schemes to steal money from the people.

“…This is why we have the creation of schemes such as GYEEDA, SADA, SUBAH, WAYOME, WATERVILLE, ISOTOFON, AAL, where the state has been defrauded of billions of Ghana cedis which could otherwise have been used for productive development expenditure. This is only what we know about. This is not what Ghanaians expect from the party of “Probity and Accountability,” he said.

But the Deputy Minister of Transport urged that “we must start to look at things in a broader perspective. I think what we have been doing good so far, and I dare say that, they are looking at things from a very myopic political view.