Veeps clash in Takoradi

Running mates of political parties with representation in Parliament, two of them women, will take their turn tomorrow in a debate on a wide range of national issues at Takoradi’s Akroma Plaza Hotel.

The debate comes on the heels of a previous one in Tamale where their flag bearers engaged one another in a presidential debate which without doubt has set the tone for tomorrow’s witty episode.

Both the Presidential and Vice Presidential debates are the initiatives of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA); and they are intended to deepen multiparty democracy and promote issue-based elections in Ghana.

Tomorrow’s 6:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. encounter will provide an opportunity for the running mates to deal wittingly with issues of socio-economic importance and good governance as did their flag bearers.

For the people of Ghana, it will offer a rare opportunity to assess the new faces on the political block and judge their suitability, especially the female running mates.

According to a release by the IEA, “the debates will take the form of a policy dialogue at which the running mates will not only present their viewpoints and policy-directions, but point out weaknesses in the policies and programmes of their co-contestants and present alternatives.”

As per a balloting by the political parties, the candidates will be seated in the following order: Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, National Democratic Congress (NDC); Cherita Sarpong-Kumankuma, Vice Presidential Candidate for the Convention People’s Party (CPP); Helen Sanorita Dzatugbe Matrevi, Vice Presidential Candidate for the People’s National Convention (PNC); and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice Presidential Candidate for the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The Ghanaian electorate and public are anticipating a bout between Dr. Bawumia and Mr Amissah-Arthur given the choice of the latter by the NDC as a response to the NPP’s choice of an erudite young economist. Mr Amissah-Arthur had been a Governor of the Bank of Ghana before his selection as the Vice President in August while Dr Bawumia was a deputy Governor at the same institution before his selection to partner Nana Akufo-Addo in 2008 and retained again for the December 2012 polls.

The other two contestants, PNC’s Helen Matervi, and CPP’s Cherita Sarpong-Kumankuma are also in the race on their own merits.

Mrs. Matervi, 43, a mother of one and a product of the University of Cape Coast (UCC), was a one-time teaching assistant at the UCC. Helen is a translator at Human Resource Advisory Limited, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO).

The CPP’s running mate, until recently, a traditional ruler at Dormaa in the Brong Ahafo Region, is a child rights advocate.

Most viewers would want to assess the quality of women who are representing their political parties considering the yearning for greater female representation in local politics.

The debate, according to the IEA release, will be based on questions from the public in the areas of the economy, good governance, social sector, private sector development and natural resource management.

Members of the public were earlier entreated to submit their questions to the Presidential Debates Committee for tomorrow’s encounter.

Information reaching DAILY GUIDE suggests that Dr Bawumia, who in his Tamale Secondary School days was an outstanding member of the Debating Society, is fired up for tomorrow’s encounter which expectedly would be spiced with sufficient figures.

Without doubt, his lecture on the state of the economy at the College of Surgeons and Physicians endeared him to many Ghanaians who were listening to him for the first time on the complexities of macro-economic management and policy and its interface with good governance.

He earned a chip on his shoulder which he must defend tomorrow.

Dr Bawumia’s NDC counterpart, Vice President Amissah-Arthur, who joined the Bank of Ghana just when the NPP man was leaving, would have to convince Ghanaians about why he thinks the economy is virile against the position of many to the contrary and why the ruling party should be given another chance.