Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has again challenged the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and its flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama to show a single policy they left behind in the northern belt before leaving office.
He stated that the former president had been in office as president for over four years and before that, he had the privilege of becoming a vice president for a similar term yet had nothing to show for it.
“You come into office to work to leave a legacy, what was your legacy?” he asked the former President and the NDC.
Speaking at the 2018 joint Annual Dinner and Dance of the United Kingdom branch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Young Executives Forum (YEF) in October last year, Vice President, Dr Bawumia threw a challenge to the NDC to show one single social intervention programme they brought which reduced the hardship of Ghanaians.
“Today the NDC is going around saying that there are hardships. So what we want to ask them, and I want to challenge them, a simple challenge: tell us what you have done in your last eight years of government. Tell us the social interventions you brought in to reduce the hardships of Ghanaians,” the Vice President said.
He continued: “if you ask me, I will tell you what Nana Akufo-Addo has done in 20 months. I will tell you about Free SHS, I will tell you about teacher training allowances, I will tell you about nursing training allowances.”
Leading member of the opposition NDC including former Communications Minister, Dr Edward Omane Boamah reacting to the comment, described it as needless.
He refuted the claim, saying that the NDC has several social policies and interventions to its credit.
“We love social interventions and we implement them better because we are social democrats,” he said.
“Incredibly, Ghana’s loquacious Vice-President, Dr Bawumia has asked the NDC to point to one social intervention they implemented while in government which was geared towards alleviating the sufferings of Ghanaians. This evokes an oxymoronic response: I am glad but sad! The latter feeling is because Bawumia is still speaking to the issue of the sufferings of Ghanaians, when in actual fact according to candidate Akufo-‐Addo’s promise in 2016, he was expected to ‘transform’ Ghana within 18 months upon assuming office as President,” he added.
However, addressing the 31st edition of the Kakube festival at Nandom, Dr Bawumia stated that every government since independence has left a legacy behind but the Mahama government has failed to do so.
”We all know Dr Busia left a legacy of rural development policies. We all know president Kufuor left a legacy in Ghana, National Health Insurance Scheme, School Feeding, LEAP Programmes and Metro-Mass Transit. You know Nana Akuffo Addo is leaving a legacy; Free SHS, Planting for Food and Jobs, One village One dam, One-District-One-Factory, the Pwalugu dam and all of them will be the legacy of President Akufo-Addo.
“I want you all to ask John Mahama when he was president for four years and vice president for four years, what legacy has he left for our people. Is SADA [Savannah Accelerated Development Authority] the legacy he left for the people of the north? Is it the guinea fowls? Where is it?”
The Vice President stated that there was no road completed in the Upper West Region within the eight-year period the Mahama government spent in office.
Dr Bawumia asked the opposition to gear up for another competition next year as the discerning electorate more than prepared to make a choice between a competent Akufo-Addo government against an incompetent one presided over by John Mahama.