Why Dr. Bawumia is President Akufo-Addo’s anointed NPP presidential candidate

At long last, the NPP party has selected its Flagbearer and Leader in the
person of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia going into the 2024 general elections.

Before the electoral verdict on 04 November 2023, it was common knowledge that Dr. Bawumia was the establishment Candidate as he enjoyed President Akufo-Addo’s endorsement and his appointees together with other bigwigs of the NPP Party machinery during both the Super and National Delegates Conferences of the Party.

Alan Kojo Kyerematen's exit from the NPP Party to go solo as an Independent Presidential Candidate in 2024 exposed President Akufo-Addo’s change of preference from Alan who contested him on several occasions to Dr. Bawumia his Vice President for a number of reasons.

Malleability and loyalty of Dr. Bawumia for the vice position:

From the narrations of the former General Secretary of the NPP Party, Nana Ohene Ntow, Dr. Bawumia faced highly stiff opposition when President Akufo-Addo selected him as his running mate in 2008 on the ground that Dr. Bawumia was not a card bearing member of the NPP. President Akufo-Addo also stuck with Dr. Bawumia for his two unsuccessful presidential attempts and got lucky on the third try.

The defence mounted for Dr. Bawumia by President Akufo-Addo for his economic prowess to help him fix Ghana’s Guggisbergian economic woes inured to the benefit of Dr. Bawumia’s political lifeline. Dr. Bawumia’s economic prowess has turned out to be a mirage now since he unsuccessfully changed the economy from taxation to production as well as poor fundamental economic indicators
e.g. inflation rate, exchange rate, etc.

For me, the loyalty of Dr. Bawumia was strongly tested by President Akufo-Addo when he was deliberately sidelined as the Chair of the Economic Management Team (EMT) during the nosedive of Ghana's economy before the 2020 General elections. This was an unspoken snubbing of Dr. Bawumia by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta during the controversial e-levy discussions and passage under this Akufo-Addo-led government.

Dr. Bawumia’s loyalty to President Akufo-Addo is unquestioned as he did not openly object or confront the cousin of the President since he did not initially support the passage of the MoMo tax or e-levy like the NDC Party, as this directly affects the poor in society.

Loyalty is crucially important in everyday life, but it cannot be the case when one is loyal to another for the wrong reasons because Corporate Ghana will suffer for it! This clearly shows that the Vice President, Dr. Bawumia is highly malleable and cannot be his own man, as he claimed.

Latent third term of President Akufo-Addo under conditional Dr. Bawumia’s regime:

Dr. Bawumia claimed during his victory speech that he would be his own man with his ideas and plans. This is merely a well-scripted victory speech to find a workable way to hoodwink Ghanaians again after exhibiting such disastrous leadership and super incompetence while in government.

Voting for Dr. Bawumia in 2024 is still President Akufo-Addo in charge of covering up their stinking ‘sins’ in government. How is Dr. Bawumia going to investigate the numerous scandals under this government if he is voted into office in 2024? Your answer is as good as mine!

Although President Akufo-Addo will be out of office by 07 January 2025, he will still be in his latent third term as President in the unlikely event that Dr. Bawumia won. This will indeed be a calamitous experience for Ghanaians considering the appalling performance of this insensitive Akufo-Addo-Bawumia-led regime. The failed mouth-watering promises of this government do not qualify it for a third term of President Akufo-Addo and the first term of Dr. Bawumia come 2024.

Personal legacy protection than NPP Party tradition:

On the surface, the NPP Party has altered its Party tradition of always fielding an Akan as its Flagbearer. However, this new development of endorsing a Northerner in the person of Dr. Bawumia as the Flagbearer in 2023 is rather a personal legal protection for President Akufo-Addo than the NPP Party tradition.

Considering the apathetic record of unbridled borrowing, raging corruption, environmental obliteration, and general economic hardships, the ‘anus’ of President Akufo-Addo will be badly exposed if it is not Dr. Bawumia in the seat after him. Thus, he rooted for ‘malleable’ Dr. Bawumia to cover up the roots of this regime as he is squarely a contributor to the economic woes of this country.

Since quitting the NPP, Alan has been struggling to distance himself from Akufo-Addo’s poor records although he has been part and parcel of the economic mess created by this governing NPP government and cannot therefore be a potential third force. Despite being an Akan, Alan could not have fully fit the ‘wish list’ of President Akufo-Addo to succeed him in the NPP Party as we have
witnessed.

Conclusion:

Dr. Bawumia is President Akufo-Addo’s anointed NPP Presidential Candidate for purposes of his uninspiring personal legacy protection as well as being able to remotely control the arm of malleable Dr. Bawumia.

It is only the uninitiated who will give it a thought that the current NPP Presidential Candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia will do better than former President John Dramani Mahama when voted into office in 2024.

Former President John Dramani Mahama has proven himself as an individual who is honest, accommodating, and visionary in terms of nation-building and forging cohesiveness. Being the most experienced and reinvigorated leader of our time, former President Mahama is the right Presidential Candidate come 2024.