[ad_1]
Very soon, the respected delegates of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will, according to the party’s constitution, have to decide on the holder of the party flag for the 2024 elections. It is my fervent prayer and my greatest hope that Allah spares our lives and grant us good health to reach this very important day for the holiday in 2024.
I refer to this as the most important day for the NPP in 2024 because it is a day that decides on the success and game ahead of the NPP or the entry into force of the 2024 presidential elections. As the current Vice President of Ghana, Dr Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia has yet to officially declare his intention to run for the presidential primaries, there is ample evidence that he will be one of the contenders.
Even if he doesn’t, I predict that the base of the party will put more and more pressure on him to compete for the title of standard bearer because of how he has endeared himself to the party base and positive neutrals in Ghanaian party politics.
The lingering question is whether Dr Alhaji Bawumia will be able to break the eight-year vicious cycle of New Patriotic Party and National Democratic Congress rule in Ghana and secure the New Patriotic Party victory for the fifth time in the fourth republican. dispensation of Ghana.
The question is very relevant because the delegates should not just get a flag bearer for the party, but a very viable flag bearer and not just a badass, but impossible to crack for the NDC. In order to find an answer to the above question, one needs to analyze the reasons why he (Dr Bawumia) has been named the President’s partner for four consecutive presidential elections.
Obviously, Dr Bawumia’s nomination as the NPP Flag Bearer Vice-Presidential Candidate for the 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020 elections was not simply aimed at securing a candidate for the Party’s vice-presidency. , but was based on reasonable and convincing reasons.
On August 17, 2008, during a gigantic rally in Takoradi to close the conference of delegates, NPP flag bearer for the 2008 elections, Nana Addo Dankwah Akuffo Addo raising Dr Bawumia’s left hand to a cheerful crowd and Jubilant party supporters remarked with confidence: “This young man is a director whom the party has chosen to support me in order to present a solid ticket for the December ballot”. He added, “the NPP made a wise decision in selecting a Muslim vice president from northern Ghana to support a Christian standard bearer in order to accelerate the development of the country.”
From the above statements and many of these statements from well-known NPP figures, political analysts and independent communicators, the four-time nomination of Dr Bawumia as the running mate of Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo Addo is based on the fact that he is a leading economist and a northern Muslim.
The party saw these two reasons as justified because as a technocrat, he will be of immense help in turning around the economic fortunes of the country if the NPP wins the presidential elections and he becomes vice-president, a position by default which will make him the head of the government’s economic management team.
His appointment has also been seen to give fair representation and inclusion of Northerners and Muslims at the highest level of the national leadership hierarchy in Ghana, which will make the party attractive to Northerners and Muslims. Without a doubt, the Nana Addo / Bawumia combination has yielded positive results for the party.
The relentless improvement of the nuclear power plant in northern Ghana and in the communities of Zongo during the presidential and parliamentary elections is clear proof. So if the party’s reasons for choosing him as their vice presidential candidate for four elections worked, won’t he be a double plus should he become its standard bearer?
Conventionally, the NPP since the creation of the Fourth Republican Constitution has paired a Christian standard bearer from the South and a Muslim vice presidential candidate from the North. In 1992, the NPP paired Alhassan, a Muslim from the northern region, with Professor Adu Boahen, a Christian standard bearer from the Ashanti region.
The ticket of John Agyekum Kuffuor and Alhaji Aliu Mahama for the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004 is another proof of this. It will not be out of place to conclude that this decision is an attempt to dispel the mistaken notion accumulated by people, especially opponents of the party, that the NPP is an Akan party and that it does not create any room for non- Akan. backgrounds.
The party therefore believed that teaming up with an Akan standard bearer and a running mate from the north would make the party attractive to northerners and Muslims in Ghana. Indeed, there are many facts that show that such a plan works perfectly for the nuclear power plant. The nuclear power plant which was almost considered a taboo for a northerner or a Muslim to be openly supported has penetrated many parts of northern Ghana and the Zongo communities in southern Ghana.
I am not a tribal fanatic. Not at all. If I was, I would not have supported NPP at this time when my tribal member, a Gonja, is running the affairs of the NDC. From 2008 to 2016, it was almost a curse for one person from Gonjaland to openly support the nuclear power plant, but we challenged this strange and vehemently supported the nuclear power plant.
So, I’m not a fan of tribal politics at all, but the point of saying here is that if indeed a vice president post got the NPP from such votes from northern Ghana and the Zongo communities which are predominantly Muslim, won’t we get more votes from these regions, should Dr Alhaji Bawumia become the party flag bearer? This is a question that deserves to be considered by anyone who wants to be good for the party.
Besides the reason to win the hearts and minds of northerners and Muslims for the NPP, Dr Bawumia was also chosen as the running mate to help the president turn the economy around and put it back on track. the rails if the NPP won the presidential elections and he (Bawumia) became the vice president. President Akuffo Addo rightly said it in 2014, when he said: “………..
I have been fortunate to have Mahamudu by my side since 2008. His credentials as a first-rate economist have always been known to all and have been reinforced by his analytical work and his performance in this sector over the past five years. years, which earned him the nickname Dr. Prophet ……..
I am convinced that he will make an exceptional Vice President of the Republic and a good manager of the economy if Almighty God and the Ghanaian people favor us with the opportunity to be of service in January 2017. True to the words of the President Dr. Bawumia as head of the government’s economic management team has achieved good results. As head of the government’s economic management team, he was able to look back positively on all the economic indicators that had been reduced before 2017.
Inflation was reduced from 15.4% in single-digit 2016 and to 10.4% at the end of 2020 after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, import duties reduced from 30% to 50% , Ghana’s gross international reserves increased from $ 6.2 billion (3.5 months of imports) in 2016 to $ 8.6 billion in 2020 (4.1 months of imports) and average lending rates reduced from 32% in 2016 to 21% in 2020.
Additionally, the triangular mobile money interoperability systems that have enabled Ghanaians to transfer money from their bank accounts to their mobile money wallets seamlessly and vice versa and to transfer money between all mobile money operators without any difficulty are the idea of Dr. Bawumia. His efforts to formalize the Ghanaian economy by digitizing almost all sectors of the economy have been remarkable.
In other words, the services of the National Health Insurance Scheme, the Ghana Electricity Company, the Passport Office, the Ghana Ports and Ports Authority, the Stock Exchange Secretariat, the Judiciary, the Driver’s and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) have all been digitized.
Dr Bawumia’s economic and lobbying prowess was put to good use when he led a delegation to China in 2017 to negotiate the two million dollars ($ 2 billion) bauxite deal as part of the country’s support. Sinohydro main project for the development of the country’s infrastructure.
From all indications, Dr. Bawumia will be a serious headache for the Democratic National Congress as the 2024 presidential elections approach. Even the maverick and outspoken Dr. Aidoo of the NDC confirmed this when he did so. gave his very first interview to TV3 after returning to Ghana from his diplomatic mission.
He said: “Dr Bawumia was the Achilles heel of the NDC not only for the 2016 election, but he started in 2012. What I missed was the inability of the team to NDC communication to bring out the facts in order to challenge the benchmarking. that Dr. Bawumia was doing. ”
His statement was supported by Kweku Baako in April 2019 on Metro TV when he said: “It seems that Dr Bawumia is a problem for his political opponents. I have been in Ghanaian politics for a very long time and I can tell you that Dr Bawumia is one of the best communicators we have ever had. He is articulate, coherent and focused. He makes economics very simple. He is able to cut down on very complicated problems. So I see why he represents a problem and challenge for some people “.
I have articulated and whoever analyzes my submission without any consideration except that which will lead to our victory in 2024 will see meaning in what I have said.
Written by
Iddi Adam Osman
Source link
