The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has described his Vice President, Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, as an honest person.
According to the President, Dr. Bawumia does not mince words with him, an attitude he personally expects and truly admires from people he deals with.
President Akufo-Addo spoke highly of the Vice President on Thursday, October 26, 2023, at Jubilee House when pupils of the Association International School paid a courtesy call on him.
During the lively interaction between the President and the neatly dressed school children, who spoke impeccable English, a Grade Four pupil, Adwoa Boadiwaa, asked President Akufo-Addo the question about the Veep.
Confidently holding the microphone and facing the President, Adwoa said: “Good afternoon Your Excellency. My name is Adwoa [Boadiwaa], and I want to ask why out of all people did you choose Dr. Bawumia as your Vice President?”
The question generated a brief sense of humor in the auditorium, with President Akufo-Addo repeating the question and saying, “Oh, goodness…”
He then answered: “I think you are aware of our country in terms of the balance—people from the South, people from the North—and I think that for the unity of the country, it is good that we have a leadership where northerners and southerners are together so that the country can remain united.
“He is from the north, and I wanted somebody from the north to partner with me for the elections and also for the governance. He is also a very cleaver man, and I needed his brains to help me govern the country effectively.
And he is an honest person. He speaks honestly to you. He is not one of those people for whom you have to guess what they want to say. He says what he wants to say directly, and I like that. I prefer to deal with people who are also very direct in what they say. But these are some of the reasons why I chose Dr. Bawumia to be my Vice President.”
TOUR
The educational tour last Thursday was not a novelty, as several school children from both public and private institutions have had the opportunity to visit the seat of the nation’s presidency, Jubilee House, to see and interact with the President.
In all those meetings, including the recent one, President Akufo-Addo descends to the classroom and uses simple and easy-to-understand English to explain governance to the schoolchildren.
CHOICE
President Akufo-Addo, after winning the bid to lead the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to the 2008 presidential election, at a time when former President Kufuor was finishing his tenure, chose Dr. Bawumia as his running mate.
Dr. Bawumia was not widely known in the politics of the country, as he was managing his role as a deputy governor of the Central Bank.
The decision by Akufo-Addo to settle on Dr. Bawumia met stiff opposition even within his party, which argued against the popularity of Dr. Bawumia.
Regardless, the flagbearer, Akufo-Addo, maintained his choice and later had the buy-in of the party. However, they lost both the 2008 and 2012 general elections.
Dr. Bawumia sold himself to the Ghanaian when he stood in the dock as the principal witness for Akufo-Addo in the famous 2012 presidential election petition, bringing the phrase “you and I were not there.”
WORKS
Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo chose him for the third time in 2016, and they won that election and that of 2020.
He has since championed the digitalization agenda of the Akufo-Addo government, rolling out the Ghana Post GPS, Zipline Drone delivery, paperless port, Ghana Card, mobile money interoperability, and others.
After serving President Akufo-Addo, the NPP, and the country for about 15 years, he is in the race to take over from his boss as the leader and the flagbearer of the party.
This Saturday, November 4, 2023, over 200,000 delegates of the NPP are expected to vote across the country to choose between Dr. Bawumia, Ken Agyapong, Dr. Akoto Afriyie, and Francis Addai Nimo.
