I feel sorry for Bawumia – Ametor Quarmyne

Although he was on all New Patriotic Party [NPP] campaign platforms during the 2008/2012 elections and has even been handpicked thrice to be the running mate to Nana Akufo-Addo, the opposition party's flagbearer; Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has been accused of not being a dyed-in-the-wool party activist.

According to government communications member, Eric Ametor Quarmyne, Dr. Bawumia was forcibly roped into the NPP just to partner Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo without having any prior knowledge in politics.

The NDC communicator said he pities the former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana when he hides behind the opposition party to accuse the NDC government of misappropriating state funds.

“Bawumia [Dr.] is not an NPP member, he was picked by-force....I feel sorry for him sometimes,” he asserted.

Eric Ametor Quarmyne was discussing Dr. Bawumia’s recent comments on the budget allocated for the operation of the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) on Asempa FM.

Dr. Bawumia accused President John Dramani Mahama of tokenism regarding what he described as the allocation of a paltry GHC 400,000 to the struggling Authority in the fiscal year 2015.

Per his (Bawumia's) calculations, it meant each of the five regions covering the SADA zone will get the equivalent of $25,000 each in the financial year 2015 as captured by the Government’s 2015 Budget Statement and Economic Policy presented to the Parliament in November, 2014. This he described as an insult to Ghanaians and the people of the five SADA regions especially.

He pointed out that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) when in opposition promised the people of the north a seed capital of GHc200m and an annual allocation of GHc100m to the Authority, in order to facilitate the development of the poverty ridden regions and bridge the yawning development gap between those regions and the rest of the country. “The case of SADA is especially sad with the misapplication of resources meant for northern development by northerners who should have been more empathetic towards their own.

“The stealing of these monies has a direct impact on the suffering of our people. Imagine the number of boreholes that could have been constructed, clinics, schools, etc.”

“To add insult to injury, the 2015 budget allocation is GH¢400,000. i.e. an average of GH¢80,000 per region or $25,000 for each of the five SADA regions for 2014. GH¢80,000 or US$25,000 is just about the amount the government spends on building one 3- classroom block. It cannot even build a 6-classroom block per the government’s own figures. This is against a promise of GH¢100 million per year for 20 years for SADA! In fact, the 2014 budget allocation of GH¢400,000 for SADA is an insult to all of us. How will this amount impact on the development in the North?” Bawumia queried.

But Ametor Quarmye insisted Dr. Bawumia made the above remarks because he is "hungry and desperate for political power" since he has "no facts to buttress his claims".

“He [Dr. Bawumia] is telling an obvious untruth story to the people,” he noted.