Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
Bawumia, through his knowledge, has championed a massive digitization agenda of this country to enable Ghana to move with the contemporary trends of the fourth industrial revolution. The consequences of these digitization agenda are their practical uses in everyday life. If today, commerce, trade and payments have been made so easy for both the elite and non-elites through mobile money payments interoperability, we must thank Bawumia. From the ‘koko’ seller to the farmer to the hairdresser to the mason, teacher, store keeper, Dr., Prof, lawyer and what have you, we are able to pay and receive payments very easily across all networks.
Let me ask oo… When was the last time you visited the DVLA office or tried to renew your health insurance registration or acquire or renew your passport? You noticed how quick, easy and less corrupt the process has been? If yes, say a prayer for Bawumia and thank him if you meet him. And what did you use to register for your voters’ ID card? I am just asking oo. Did you use the national ID card called the Ghana Card? Wow! Please thank Bawumia. Are you an importer or you know someone who imports or exports? What has he been saying about the paperless port system? Thank Bawumia. Did you just apply for scholarship for yourself or on behalf of someone? Did you have to travel from your village, town or district to Accra before you could do that? Obviously no, because of the online registration—thank Bawumia. The last time it was raining, and your electricity pre-paid units got finished what did you do? Were you able to use just your phone to purchase the units through the ECG app and mobile money payments interoperability? Thank Bawumia. I can go on and on and on, but please note that these digitization efforts and the introduction of drones, digitization of hospital records, etc. are the pieces of the jig-saw that we need well knitted together to place Ghana on the development paradigm.
Aside from the digitization, cast your minds around and see what happened when the Vice-President led the first-ever Town Hall Meeting of the Economic Management Team as the Chairman. There was the announcement of a 50% cut on import duties for selected imported products and 30% cut for vehicles. This, no doubt, was the initiative of Vice-President Bawumia.
When roads infrastructure matter became very huge in Ghana and government finances were constrained, government sources say it took the same Bawumia to strike a non-debt but infrastructure for bauxite barter deal with the Chinese government through Sinohydro for the largest single ever infrastructure investment project in the country since independence. Today, through the $2 billion secured, the northern part of Ghana is having its first interchange. The novelty of this arrangement was such that the Minority in Parliament and even some elites in Ghana thought it was not feasible, but it is working.
From what we can all observe from afar, Bawumia’s innovations and initiatives in the government of President Akufo-Addo are so overwhelming and unprecedented that the brevity of space and time will not allow me to chronicle all of them here. But I think there are two or three that I must touch on.
Guess what! First of all, I am talking about the creation of 100,000 jobs for young graduates through NABCO. President Akufo-Addo’s acknowledgement of Bawumia and his team during the launch of NABCO is telling of the fact that the man, Bawumia, and the young talented guys in his office created the whole idea of the NABCO and appointed one of their own, Dr. Ibrahim Anyars, to head it, as sources indicate. Have we had such a vice-president in this country before?
The second is the ‘one constituency one ambulance’. The Minister for Special Development Initiative and the head of Ghana Ambulance Services have on countless occasions extolled Vice-President Bawumia for his leadership and coaching in realizing the dream of having these 307 ambulances. This was not in the party’s manifesto but when Bawumia saw the need for it, he thought outside the box and, truly, it was delivered.
The third is broadly on the economy. There is no denying the fact that but for the advent of COVID-19, the economy under the chairmanship of Bawumia would have been turned around relative to what the government inherited. This is what the President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, wrote on Thursday, 9th July 2020 on the economy prior to COVID-19, “We must remind ourselves that COVID-19 also wiped out almost 5% of GDP. And so it would not be the fault of the government when we end up with a 2% GDP. The economy was in good hands—no doubt. Which is why we must avoid decisions that compound the problem. Shut the schools now, my brother Bawumia.”
I know I do not have enough space to provide a copious case on the economic gains, however arguable my views will be but there is enough testament that the economy has been managed quite well. Even in COVID-19, the fact that the President has been able to steer the wheels while providing such huge freebies (safety nets), amidst revenue shortfalls is proof that the fundamentals are actually better; otherwise, a non-resilient economy cannot stand catastrophic tornados let alone support its citizens.
He (Bawumia) is certainly not a saint and may have some frailties, but apart from all these brilliant efforts and many others, what is distinguishably unique about him is that there is no yet any claim and or even gossiped or fabricated case of corruption around him. He still remains the humble, polite, hardworking, respectful, God-fearing and youth-friendly Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia. If indeed anyone wants to compare any potential or past vice-president with Bawumia, he or she must know Bawumia has already raised the bar high and worth appreciating.
I welcome Prof. Jane, and I await to read the policies and programmes she and the NDC team may seek to introduce if re-elected.
Shalom!
By Dr. Rhoda Naana Arthur