Deputy Spokesperson for the campaign team of flagbearer hopeful of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Alan Kyerematen, has described Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia who’s aspiring to be the party’s presidential candidate as the greatest beneficiary of the NPP tradition.
Mr Richard Nyanah’s comment comes after the vice president while addressing party delegates in Suame in the Ashanti, highlighted the many sacrifices he has made for the party over the years including serving as a witness for the party during the 2012 election petition at the Supreme Court which put his political career on the line.
“Most of our members gave excuses when the party needed a witness for the 2012 general election petition at the Supreme Court. I sacrificed my political career for the party, even though I was fully aware of the implications if I don’t deliver well in court.”
“They gave so many excuses, some said they were travelling because they feared to put their political career on the line. That time, nobody came out to say “Adru me so”, but I stood my ground, I’m the best person to lead the party,” Veep Bawumia said.
But Richard Nyamah in an interview with Starr News said the Vice President has rather benefitted immensely from the NPP and has been paid well for his services.
“Vice President Bawumia currently is the greatest beneficiary of the NPP tradition, and I think he’s been paid enough by the party. He’s saying he has sacrificed for the party and even sacrificed his political career and integrity when he mounted the witness box. Before 2012, I don’t think the Vice President was politically out there. It is the Supreme Court that he went and did what he did that has made him stand out. So, in actual fact, that singular act catapulted him into the political limelight, it wasn’t the opposite.”
He added: “But in any case, when he and Nana Addo were candidates in opposition in 2008, the party was responsible for them, the NPP took care of their bills and took care of them for eight years in opposition. Then we came into government, in 2012, when he did that, it catapulted him into that position, and he was retained as Vice Presidential candidate in 2016. He had had that benefit of becoming a Vice President and reaping whatever he had sowed in 2012 at the Supreme Court. If that is not the case, I ask him, Lawyer Addison who led the NPP’s case for nine months as lead lawyer, if being in court is a premise for which somebody should become a Presidential candidate of the party, then Lawyer Addison should be the one leading us and not him as a witness.”
“He’s the greatest beneficiary of this tradition, he has been taken care of for eight years in opposition, then in government it is the people of Ghana who are taking care of him. Now he’s come and tasted the Vice-Presidential position, but he’s not happy enough with it, he thinks it’s a servant position and so he wants the main one, that is why,” Richard Nyamah stressed.