Vice President Bawumia has raised doubts about the credibility of former President Mahama in wanting to lead Ghana once again.
This was when he spoke at the launch of Aspirants Unite for Victory (AU4V) 2020 Movement, a group of people who contested but lost in the just-ended parliamentary primaries of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Accra Monday.
The group was formed by some of the parliamentary aspirants to shore up support for the candidates they lost against and the party’s Presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in the upcoming elections.
In his speech, Dr Bawumia insisted that “not only has he (referring to Mahama) proven to be incompetent, but he has also proven to not have credibility; no credibility and no vision.”
His reason was that “he (referring to John Mahama) said the Free SHS was a hoax, now he says he introduced it, then he said if he had GHc2billion he wouldn’t spend it on Free SHS, now he says wants to expand it to private sector…he introduced licensure exams for teachers, today he says he will abolish it, he abolished teacher training allowance, today he says he will introduce it.”
Apart from that, Dr Bawumia said “he could not pay NHIS service providers, he had to cancel teacher training allowance, cancel nursing training allowance, introduce utility bills for students, abolish Arabic instructors allowance, froze hiring, we had backlog of nurses who could not get employment, ambulance system was collapsing, even chalk in school was a problem.”
He therefore concluded “this is incompetence, pure and simple.”
The Vice President thus considers the upcoming December 2020 elections as a crucial one for the country, asking the charged gathering “are we going to go back to incompetence”, to spontaneous chants of a big “no”.
That, he said was because “both (referring to former President Mahama and incumbent President Akufo-Addo) have had stints at the presidency; we all know what the record of John Mahama was after 8years of the NDC in government and we know what the record of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is as we speak today”, saying “we know from the data that is available that John Mahama managed our economy with incompetence; he was very incompetent, it’s a fact.”
Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Ocquaye described the decision by the aspirants to let go whatever disappointments and pain they may have gone through before, during and after the contest as unprecedented in the history of the party.
He therefore thanked them for the decision, urging them to have hope for the future like Akufo-Addo and Bawumia did before eventually being elected President and Vice President, saying “nobody ever got there just like that…”
Prof Mike Ocquaye declared his personal and that of his entire family’s support including that of his son who is Ghana’s High Commissioner to India, Mike Ocquaye Jnr and contested but lost to the NPP Parliamentary Candidate for Dome-Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Safo.
He thus charged other aspirants to support candidates they contested but lost in order for them maintain control of Parliament.
NPP National Organiser, Sammi Awuku who was also present said “defeat offers great lessons going into the future.”
He urged the rank and file of the party to bury whatever differences they may have to forge ahead for victory 2020, insisting “the longer we stay in government, the better it will be for each and every one of us and the entire nation.”
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent