I have championed 33 policies as Vice President, show us yours - Bawumia dares Mahama

Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, has highlighted some of the innovative policies he initiated and implemented over the past seven years as Vice-President of the Republic.

"I have initiated and championed 33 policies as Vice President, and I want former President Mahama to show us the policies he championed under his tenure as Vice President," he said.

Dr. Bawumia stated that the country needs a leader who is innovative, consistent, and hardworking to transform the country. He expressed that he had passed all the tests as Vice President and is ready to move to the next level as President to propel Ghana to new heights under the fourth industrial revolution.

Dr. Bawumia compared former President Mahama to a student who scored 30 percent in an examination against another student who scored 70 percent in the same examination. However, the student with a 30 percent score asked the school authorities to let him represent the school in a national quiz competition at the expense of the one who scored 70 percent.

"Does this make sense to you to allow the one with a 30 percent score to represent the school?" he asked, adding, "This is how former President Mahama wants Ghanaians to act by voting for him as President."

Vice President Bawumia made these remarks in Accra on Wednesday during the 'Youth Connect' program, which provided him the opportunity to explain his vision to the youth from various tertiary education institutions.

The NPP flagbearer highlighted some of the policies he championed during his tenure as Vice President, including the issuance of the GhanaCard, making the GhanaCard an International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) certified travel document for travel to Ghana, the GhanaPost Digital Property Address System, Mobile Money Interoperability, and using the GhanaCard number as a Tax Identification Number, SSNIT, and NHIS number.

Other initiatives included paperless ports, digitalization of the passport office, the motor insurance database, the Ghana.gov platform, E-pharmacy, Zipline Medical Drones Delivery, digitalization of tax filing, no guarantor student loans with GhanaCard, one constituency, one ambulance, Agenda 111, the Sinohydro Barter Agreement, provision of Hydroxyurea under NHIS for sickle cell patients, and the Zongo Development Fund.

Additional initiatives were the Bank of Ghana Gold Purchase Programme, the Gold for Oil Policy, the Go Ride Taxi Service for local drivers, a system to tackle ghost names on government payroll, automation of premix fuel distribution, the purchase of ECG credit on mobile phones, and the digitalization of ECG revenue collection. Also included were the enrollment and renewal of NHIS membership on mobile phones, the digitalization of the Births and Deaths Registry, assigning a GhanaCard number at birth for newborns, and providing one student with one laptop for SHS students.

For instance, the NPP flagbearer mentioned that Ghana hosts the largest medical drone delivery service in the world, with six operational centers supplying medicines and blood products to 2,800 health facilities across the country.

He also noted that the E-pharmacy platform has 2,500 pharmacies connected to it, while all the teaching and regional hospitals in the country have been networked to provide quality healthcare services.