Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
VICE-PRESIDENT Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has for the first time opened up about how it is like to work with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
According to him, despite the President’s advanced age, he works so hard and is a very demanding person who wants to accomplish things very fast for the country.
The Vice-President, in a long interview on ‘Kokrokoo’ on ‘Peace FM’ in Accra yesterday, talked about so many things going on with regard to national development.
He said there was no way that one could relax while working under President Akufo-Addo, noting that the President is also very strong and is in a hurry to get some things done for Ghana.
The Vice-President said he attributes his success so far to President Akufo-Addo.
“President Akufo-Addo is a workaholic and a very demanding leader, and he always wants to get things done effectively and at a very fast pace. You cannot relax while working under President Akufo-Addo because he is very focused and wants to achieve more for this country in a short time,” he said.
He revealed that “one other interesting thing is that, despite his advanced age, Akufo-Addo is very strong and he never gets tired when working,” he said with a smile.
Dr. Bawumia added “the President is fit and stronger than most of the young people and that has been the secret for his enormous successes in political office.”
Great Boss
Besides, the Vice-President described President Akufo-Addo as a ‘great boss’, who would “drag and help you to deliver your very best for the country.”
“I like working under him because aside from the great opportunity to learn from his vast of experience, he always keeps you on your toes to work. He would drag you to deliver,” he added.
He said that as a result of that, he had almost copied Nana Akufo-Addo’s workaholic and perfect leadership style.
“He drags me to deliver, and I also drag my team to deliver. It is a great honour and privilege to get the chance to work under President Akufo-Addo,” he pointed out.
According to him, he would never exchange the opportunity to work under President Akufo-Addo with anything, saying he had learnt a lot from him so far.
Presidential Ambition
Asked if he has ambitions to succeed President Akufo-Addo one day, Dr. Bawumia cleverly and tactically did not respond directly to the question.
He only said, “Everything is in the hands of almighty Allah and once again, I am very happy working under Nana Akufo-Addo to bring real change in people’s lives.”
NPP Story
He said President Akufo-Addo and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) would win the December elections with his positive track record in political office, but said they would not be complacent.
He admonished the teeming NPP members to campaign on the party’s impressive projects to win more votes.
According to him, even though the NPP is the favourite for the upcoming elections, the party would require hard work and better communication strategies to realize its goal.
“The election is just three months away and the NPP needs to communicate our numerous policies and achievements well in order to get our mandate renewed,” he said.
Dr. Bawumia confidently stated that the NPP had done a yeoman’s job in less than four years to transform the state.
According to him, if the party members and sympathizers heeded his wise counsel and properly communicate the party’s achievements, victory 2020 would be secured easily.
“I will urge our party members to communicate our policies and programmes and how they have benefitted the citizenry and that will help us get the needed votes,” he added.
Dr. Bawumia reiterated that indeed the NPP stood tall to win the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections, but the party needed to work hard to emerge victorious.
The Vice-President, who would partner President Akufo-Addo to seek a renewal of their mandate on December 7, also cautioned the NPP against becoming complacent.
He was of the view that only hard work and proper communication strategies were what the NPP urgently required in the next three months to win the elections.
“We are the favourites to win the presidential and parliamentary polls, but definitely not the NDC type of comfortable lead,” Dr. Bawumia pointed out amid laughter.
Dr. Bawumia said luckily for the NPP, the government had been able to perform exceptionally in just four years and that would be the party’s trump card for victory.
According to him, President Akufo-Addo’s administration has evenly distributed the national cake and so every Ghanaian is benefitting from the government’s good works.
“Our projects speak for themselves and they are scattered all over the country. Every district has experienced progress under the able leadership of President Akufo-Addo.
“And this is the very reason why I am very confident that the NPP will win the polls, but we can achieve that with proper communication of our positive projects,” he stressed.
From I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi