Bawumia Is A Better Presidential Material Than Mahama

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.

Rather funny but, his tantrums and all, Tsatsu "The Thief" Tsikata on Wednesday, May 8, 2013, acknowledged before the Atuguba panel of Supreme Court jurists hearing the New Patriotic Party (Petition) challenging the electoral legitimacy of President John Dramani Mahama that he is fighting a losing battle (See "Electon Petition Not For My Selfish Veep Ambition - Bawumia" Radioxyzonline.com/MyJoyOnline.com 5/8/13).

He is desperately struggling to squeeze water out of a stone, as it were, because rather than impugn forensic evidence presented by the key witness of the NPP petition, Mr. Tsikata lamely focused on what he assumed to be Dr. Bawumia's motive for joining the Akufo-Addo petition, along with Mr. Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, the NPP's national chairman, of course.

In the opinion of the Oxbridge-educated felon, Dr. Bawumia's decision to forensically impugn the legitimacy of Mr. Mahama was hermetically focused on the desperate quest of the former Deputy-Governor of the Bank of Ghana to assume the vice-presidency of the Democratic Republic of Ghana.

Now, this line of reasoning insults the intelligence of Dr. Bawumia who also holds an advanced degree in Economics from the University of Oxford. It insults the intelligence of the former IMF-World Bank economist, because what Mr. Tsikata clearly appears to be saying is that the presidency - or vice-presidency - of our august Republic is, somehow, the especial preserve of the movers and shakers of the National Democratic Congress.

Needless to say, it is the foregoing scandalous tack of reasoning that Messrs. Akufo-Addo, Bawumia and Obetsebi-Lamptey have been fervidly seeking to disprove before the Atuguba panel of Supreme Court jurists hearing the New Patriotic Party's electoral petition. And, by the way, what was so "selfless" about Mr. Mahama's campaign advice to northern Ghanaians not to vote for Nana Akufo-Addo because the latter was a "Kabonga" who ill-deserved their mandate?

It is also significant to observe the incontrovertible fact that even Mr. Mahama believes Dr. Bawumia to be a far better presidential material than himself. Campaigning in Tamale, for instance, Mr. Mahama swore that unless Messrs. Akufo-Addo and Bawumia reversed positions on the New Patriotic Party's presidential ticket, it would be a grievous error for any Ghanaian of northern ethnic descent to vote for the former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.

In sum, in the measured opinion of the man who is presently in a desperate fight to keep his obviously oversized job, going into Election 2012, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia was far and away the best presidential material. And so, really, Mr. Tsikata's rather scandalous attempt to impute selfish motives to Dr. Bawumia's quest for justice is just that - a scandalous act of desperation.

But even assuming for the sake of argument that, indeed, Dr. Bawumia's sole objective for joining the Akufo-Addo petition has everything to do with the possibility of him being declared Vice-President of Ghana in the offing, what would be so scandalous and/or even outrageous about the same? I mean, we are dealing here with an impenitent bunch of reprobates whose so-called National Democratic Congress party was founded by a man who literally shot his way to the presidency.

Dr. Bawumia, on the other hand, is being virulently accused of megalomania simply because he has elected to use his remarkable intellectual faculties - or cranial puissance - to fight off the corrupt and tyrannical imposition of his political opponents. What is also quite fascinating is the rather laughable and childish cross-examination path chosen by Tsatsu "The Thief" Tsikata, in which rather than forcefully and frontally refute Dr. Bawumia's forensic evidence, the former Legon Law School lecturer prefers the tit-for-tat approach of fishing for purported instances of over-voting in the New Patriotic Party's electoral strongholds. Good luck, Mr. Sourpuss!

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*Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
Department of English
Nassau Community College of SUNY
Garden City, New York
E-mail: [email protected]
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