“Ghanaians have a choice to make; if they want their leader to be sharing cars to individuals at the expense of the people or a leader who will create employment opportunities. One leader may prefer one village, one dam; the other may prefer one chief, one car. It is a matter of choices.” Dr. Alhaji Bawumia, Running Mate to Nana Akufo Addo
Set aside for the moment the economic wizardry of Dr. Bawumia. In fact just forget about Dr. Bawumia’s perfect and thought-provoking presentation titled: The State Of The Ghanaian Economy – A Foundation Of Concrete Or Straw and let us concentrate on Dr. Bawumia as a human being and an intellectual. This is a man who has never been heard insulting anybody or casting aspersions on his political opponents. He is so much focused and closes his ears to all the insults his political opponents heap on him anytime he makes his presentations. The gospel truth is that apart from the fact that Dr. Bawumia has very high Intelligent Quotient, he also has very high Emotional Quotient.
That is why you always see him smiling and treating insults with contempt. His presentations are devoid of boisterous polemics and prodigal verbal showmanship. His is a mixture of sobriety of tone, mild reasoning, refine languages, analytical exposes and pointing out institutional lapses and lacing all these with anecdotes and jokes. Dr. Bawumia’s economics analysis and presentations have helped in placing economics on the highest pedestal. All these qualities underscore his defiance whenever he was compelled to put across his convictions. I know many NDC supporters who have knowledge in economics admire Dr. Bawumia because if a presentation has a genius behind it, such presentation forces its own reception in society as a whole, irrespective of one’s political leanings.
The serious aspect of the Bawumia phenomena is that whatever he says comes to pass. No wonder people have added Prophet to his name. I was not at the National Theater when Dr. Bawumia made his presentation. As an angel, I was hovering in the firmament and in a bird’s eye view, I saw and heard everything. The guy is simply a gem and Ghanaians must be proud of such a fantastic intellectual. If Nana Akufo Addo becomes the president of Ghana (something which will surely come to pass), his job will be very easy with Bawumia as the head of the economic management team.
I have had cause to write in this column that anyone who doesn’t recognize Dr. Bawumia as an economic whiz-kid is simply jealous of the man. In other jurisdictions, Dr. Bawumia’s gene would have been a subject of study at the laboratories. You see, many politicians come to high office relatively unknown and Dr. Bawumia will surely be one of such politicians. Just look at the long history of surprising American Presidents in this century alone from Truman to Bill Clinton. And biography is not necessarily destiny. But bits and pieces of biography are almost all we have to assess Br. Bawumia. He is so colorless, so ordinary a man you cannot pick him out of a crowd. Prying eyes would slide right by the sight. Spare figure with the bland, expressionless face, except when he decides to flash one of his famous and trademark captivating smiles. Take a good look at him and you will see his eyes bore unto you but you cannot penetrate them. Sometimes they are a mirror, reflecting what you want to see. Everyone, including the NDC supporters agree on some other things about the man: He is polite, meticulous, very intelligent and he loves order. Even though he is not a president, he possesses all the useful presidential habits.
There he stood at the podium, at the National Theater, prancing away with professorial obstinacy and bombast. The man literally bewitched his listeners who had no choice but to give him countless standing ovations. The surprising thing about this man called Dr. Bawumia was that he spoke extempore to my admiration. I looked at the faces of his listeners and what I saw was complete approval of all what he was telling them. It did not take anyone with knowledge in economics to understand the man. That was why former president Kufour said even though economics is a technical subject, Dr. Bawumia made it easier for everybody to understand. Listen to Dr. Bawumia: “Despite having more resources than any government ever in the history of Ghana, the data on Ghana’s economy shows that the years under President Mahama have been worse than any period since the dawn of this century.” Unlike President Mahama and his hounds who would have used the occasion such as the one Bawumia had to hit below the belt, Dr. Bawumia made his points very clear and spoke in the urbane, cosmopolitan voice of an equal who recognizes he needs good relations with his listeners. As for me I will always find it difficult to distinguish between Nana Akufo Addo and Dr. Bawumia when it comes to delivering thought-provoking lectures. These are two of a kind.
If a seasoned economist like Dr. Bawumia makes such statement, there is the need for Ghanaians to take him serious because he backed his statement with facts and figures which are very alarming and undeniable. I am expecting Mr. Seth Terkper to come out to debunk what Dr. Bawumia presented to Ghanaians for us to know who is telling the truth. As for the NDC attack dogs who always jump into the fray anytime Dr. Bawumia exposes the government, Ghanaians should disregard them because they are stomach politicians who are out there to get their share of the booty. We want to hear from people like Professor Kwesi Botchwey who was the Finance Minister of Ghana for close to twelve years.
THE VICE PRESIDENT TO REPLY DR. BAWUMIA?
Speaking at the Greater Accra Regional Zonal campaign launch of the NDC, the Vice President, Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur served notice that he was going to reply to Dr. Bawumia’s lecture at the appropriate time. He is most welcome but somebody should tell him that as the Chairman of the Economic Management Team, he has a Herculean task to perform in his attempt to take on Dr. Bawumia. Having presided over the near collapse of all sectors of the economy I sincerely do not know what the man will have to say except to beg Ghanaians for forgiveness.
Is VEEP Amissah-Arthur going to tell Ghanaians that agriculture which is growing at 0.04 percent is an enviable achievement? Or will he be proud enough to tell Ghanaians that the high utility tariffs that his government has burdened Ghanaians with is the best that has ever happened to the people of Ghana and industries for that matter?
If Paa Kwesi musters the courage to challenge Dr. Bawumia’s factual delivery, he will be opening a Pandora’s Box and like a can of worms, closing it will be very difficult once opened. I surely know Dr. Bawumia will return fire and further expose the government to public ridicule. He will decent on him and prove to him that managing an economy is different from sending your wife to tell teachers that your government will not provide them with chalk today or tomorrow. (“Yen mma mo chalk nne, yen mma mo chalk kyena – Matilda Amissah-Arthur, wife of the VEEP (We will not give you chalk today and we will not give you chalk tomorrow).
Dr. Bawumia spoke extensively about corruption in the Mahama/Amissah-Arthur administration and even compared the speed of corruption to a Ford Expedition car speeding from Burkina Faso to the Flagstaff House. Will Mr. Arthur have the moral right to debunk the charges of corruption in the NDC administration? When I read recently that Mr. Amissah-Arthur has warned that he was going to match the NPP boot for boot, I giggled. How is he going to do this since he has weak ribs? If he has two balls in between his thighs, he should bring it on. He should ask his boss, President Mahama how hot the kitchen is anytime he tried to hit hard. If Paa Kwesi brings it on as he promised, he will regret the day he entered into politics in Ghana.
This is a respectable gentleman who has found himself in a political party made up of babies with sharp teeth and shameless thieves. With three months to the General Election, Mr. Paa Kwesi should stay away from the mudslinging and retain the respect that Ghanaians have for him. But and a big BUT, if he tries anything nasty, he will be crushed by boulders. His kinsman, the late Professor Mills ruled this country for close to three and half years and was the Vice President to President Rawlings for nearly five years. Apart from the jokes that he used to crack, he never took anyone on even though people, including Rawlings himself was always on his neck. If Paa Kwesi thinks he wants to be a different Fantiman he should come on board and sail with some of us on the high seas of gutter politics. For now the sailors have raised the anchors and the captain is shouting: “Ship Ahoy!!!”