Nana Ohene Ntow, Senior Campaign Advisor to Alan Kyerematen, has revealed that members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) initially disagreed with Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s selection as the running mate to then-candidate Akufo-Addo.
In an interview on Channel One TV, Mr. Ohene Ntow, a former General Secretary of the NPP, disclosed that the party’s leadership, including himself, vehemently opposed Dr. Bawumia’s nomination, questioning why an outsider was being considered for the role.
According to Mr. Ntow, President Akufo-Addo convinced the party to accept Bawumia, touting his economic expertise and promising to hand over the economy to him if elected.
“The interesting thing about Bawumia’s eight years as Vice President is that, when I was the General Secretary and Akufo-Addo came as a candidate to propose Bawumia as running mate, we said ‘what are you talking about?’, the man is [not] a member of the party. And you are telling us that this whole big party, you can’t find a running mate? There was a fight at the Alisa Hotel.”
“We fought and fought, Akufo-Addo said, ‘This gentleman, he so well versed in the economy, if you people allow me to bring him in and I’m the president, I’ll hand over the economy to him and you people will see the kind of work he’ll do for the economy of Ghana.’ President Kufour said, let’s listen to the man before we regret one day” he narrated.
Before the 2016 general elections, many described Dr. Bawumia as the “Economic Messiah” who would salvage the country from economic doldrums.
At that time, Dr. Bawumia held a series of public lectures, questioning and vilifying the Economic Management Team of the erstwhile Mahama administration.
However, sections of the general public are disappointed, stressing that the Vice President has failed to live up to expectations as the head of the Economic Management Team for almost eight years.
Dr. Bawumia is now vying for the presidency promising to save Ghana’s economic from total collapse.
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