The Vice President and Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has accused former President John Mahama of supervising the retrogression of the north when he had the opportunity to be Vice President and President.
Addressing thousands in Wa during his campaign tour of the Upper West Region on Monday, Dr. Bawumia said even though he has never been president before, unlike Mahama, who has been both a vice president and president before, records show that he, from his limited role as vice president, has ensured more development in the north than former President Mahama, whom he accused of rather exploiting and neglecting the north when he served as president.
“This election, the 2024 election, is a choice between two northerners; between Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and former President John Mahama”, he said.
“John Mahama has been President of Ghana before. Dr Bawumia has only been Vice President of Ghana. I have not been President of Ghana before. So the people of Wa West Constituency, the people of the Upper West Region and the people of the five northern regions, you are in the best position to tell which of your two sons should be in the position to be the President of Ghana.”
“You know the work each of us has done and you can ask us ‘What did you do when you were in the position?’ So I want to ask you, the good people of Wa West Constituency – what project did John Mahama do for you when he was the President of Ghana? Can you point to the project he executed? He was president and wielded full power under Article 54 of the constitution to take decisions for development and where he wanted to take development.”
“When he wanted to develop the north, he set up the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority. And what did SADA do with all those hundreds of millions of dollars that they put in SADA? Did you see SADA in Wechiau? Did you see SADA in Wa West Constituency? They said they used the money to rear Guinea Fowls. We asked where the Guinea Fowls were, they said they had flown to Burkina Faso. There was no evidence of their work after all those monies in the five northern regions. They cannot show us the work of what they left for northern development through their major vehicle which was SADA.”
Dr. Bawumia passed a further damning verdict of former President Mahama, accusing him and the NDC of not completing a single major road in the Upper West and East Regions respectively, in their eight years in office between 2009 and 2017.
“Let me tell you something. In the eight years of the NDC government between 2009 and 2016, of which John Mahama was part as Vice President and President, the NDC did not complete one major road in Upper West and Upper East Regions. Just one road in 8 years and they could not complete in both of these major regions of the north,” Dr. Bawumia stated.
“And the whole regime of the NDC in eight years, not one social intervention. I asked John Mahama to name just one social intervention and he couldn’t name.”
On the contrary, Dr. Bawumia said the NPP has ensured massive development projects in the north, as well as nationwide social intervention projects, including Free SHS, which he said Mahama kicked against.
“If you ask the NPP, we have several social interventions. We brought the National Health Insurance. Today it is working but they boycotted parliament when we were bringing it. And we have brought Free Senior High School Education under Nana Akufo-Addo. John Maham said if he had the money, he wouldn’t use it for free SHS education.”
“We knew, and I knew that where we had the poorest people in the north, we needed Free SHS education and we brought free SHS to the north and our children are attending in their numbers. The total enrollment for senior high school has increased from 800,000 to 1.4m in seven years. It tells you that our people were dying for free SHS education action. And today the five northern regions have the highest enrollment in senior high school education. But this is what John Mahama said we should not do. He said if he had the money, he would not do it.”
“He set up SADA and we all saw what happened. We have come with new ideas. When we came into office I made the proposal; I went to the President and said we need Agenda 111. We need hospitals in every district in Ghana which doesn’t have a hospital and he said is it possible? And I said it is possible.”
“In the five northern regions, we have 28 districts including the Wa West District, without district hospitals. We have implemented Agenda 111 and today you can see that the Agenda 111 hospital in Wechiau is 80% complete. And the contractor says he will finish it by November and Insha Allah, if he finishes, I will come back in November and commission it.”
Dr. Bawumia also listed several development projects in Wa West, Upper West, and the northern regions, including roads, classroom blocks, and health facilities, to prove how through his limited role as Vice President, he has championed more development in the north, than Mahama did as President with full authority.
He assured that he would do more for the north and for Ghana as a whole if he got the opportunity to serve the country as president.
“I am for all and I want to take the whole of the north and the whole of Ghana to a new level,” he assured.