Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia (left) and John Dramani Mahama
Now, it makes a lot of sense to me when former president John Dramani Mahama said in 2016 that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia had no experience at the Presidency and should not be making unfounded promises to Ghanaians. Passage of time has indeed proven the former president right.
There is no iota of doubt that the Vice President and Flagbearer of the NPP, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has marred his integrity and presidential ambition. This cloud of doubt comes about from his public utterances during opposition and poor delivery of promises in government.
Thus, Dr. Bawumia did very well in opposition and performed very poorly while in government, as we have observed for the past almost 8 years.
Dr. Bawumia’s media encounter on August 25, 2024, nakedly exposed him to his own pronouncements made in the past. The very things (e.g., suffering, corruption, incompetence, etc.) of the Mahama-led government that Dr. Bawumia talked about before are still happening in his regime and even getting worse than what he and Akufo-Addo came to meet in 2017. If I were Dr. Bawumia, I would accept defeat to former President John Dramani Mahama right now based on the following reasons:
Akufo-Addo’s factor:
Dr. Bawumia’s rise to political fame can be attributed to the Akufo-Addo factor. Although this is undoubtedly positive for Dr. Bawumia, the baggage of Akufo-Addo’s style of leadership as President is equally attributable to the NPP's unappealing presidential ticket with NAPO and Dr. Bawumia as the current flagbearer of the NPP.
The mismanagement of the economy, draconian haircuts, the introduction of suffocating taxes, unprecedented corruption scandals, etc. under the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia-led regime make Dr. Bawumia’s presidential chances very slim now. Despite Bawumia’s claim that he wants to be his own man and is now running away from Akufo-Addo’s insensitive policies, the majority of Ghanaians will not still take Dr. Bawumia seriously.
The indifference of Nana Akufo-Addo to make the lives of Ghanaians a little better before leaving office on 6th January 2025 is what has already defeated Dr. Bawumia’s efforts to convince Ghanaians again to also try him and see.
The revelations in the ‘Agyapadie’ document, which captured a hidden plan of the ‘Akyem Group’ to bypass the ‘Ashanti Group’ by choosing a Northerner, Dr. Bawumia, made his matter worse!
Vacillating factor of Dr. Bawumia:
The uninspiring delivery of Vice President Bawumia during the media encounter, coupled with his dwindling presidential fortunes, triggered my assertion that he should begin to concede defeat now. In my view, the ‘killer’ sentence of Dr. Bawumia during his maiden Media Encounter yesterday is, ‘If I do everything now, what will I do when I come into office?’ Is Dr. Bawumia saying that the sweeping banking clean-up exercise, deep haircuts, mismanagement and misapplication of funds, and imposition of several domestic taxes affecting Ghanaians now, which is leading to excruciating hardships, is intentional?
This is obviously not what a responsible and caring leader says to his people in times of difficulty. Admittedly, the weak fundamentals of the economy under Dr. Bawumia’s chairmanship of the Economic Management Team are clearly exposed by the galloping dollar-cedi exchange rate. The silence on how the NPP government under Dr. Bawumia will tackle corruption affirms the notion that corruption worsened under the outgoing Akufo-Addo-Bawumia-led regime.
The presidential ticket of the NPP in the name of Dr. Bawumia and NAPO has lost its vitality and contains no transformative ideas to change the dire situation that the country finds itself in now. The previous 'sins’ of Dr. Bawumia in opposition, coupled with his indecisiveness and unconvincing media encounter, show signs of his looming defeat in the next few months to the general elections.
Dr. Bawumia and the NPP can no longer be trusted with another term of office after Akufo-Addo, who surprised many with an unbelievably bad style of leadership and lack of empathy. The NPP’s attempt to apologize to Ghanaians now for the high cost of living due to bad governance is too late for Dr. Bawumia.
Ghanaians can no longer be fooled by lies again by Dr. Bawumia. The people of Ghana need a change of government to reset the country for sustainable job creation and prosperity for all. There should be a huge turnout of voters to ensure a one-touch victory for former President Mahama and the NDC to rebuild Ghana.
