Dr Mahamudu Bawumia
Vice President Dr. Bawumia has decided to take his campaign message to the doorstep of former President Mahama as the December 2024 elections draw near.
He has already started counting the things he has been able to do in his position as Vice President, and dared ex-President Mahama to tell Ghanaians what he was able to do when he occupied the same position under the late President Mills.
At his fingertips, he said he could count not less than 33 policies that he has personally initiated and implemented since becoming Vice President.
“I have initiated and championed 33 policies as Vice President and I want former President Mahama to show us the policies he championed under his tenure as Vice President,” he said at the Youth Connect programme during his campaign tour in Accra yesterday.
It afforded him the opportunity to explain his vision to the youth drawn from the various tertiary education institutions.
Dr. Bawumia, therefore, noted that Ghana as a country needed a leader who is innovative, consistent and hard working to transform the country, and that he had passed the test as Vice President to move to the next level as President and propel Ghana to a new height under the fourth industrial revolution.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer likened ex-President Mahama to a student who scored 30 per cent in an examination against another student who scored 70 per cent in the same examination.
However, he said the student with 30 per cent score asked the school authorities to let him represent the school in a national quiz competition instead of the one who scored 70 per cent in the examination.
“Does this make sense to you to allow the one with 30 per cent score represent the school?” he asked rhetorically, to a swift response of a big “no” from the students.
Meanwhile, he said, “This is how former President Mahama wants Ghanaians to do by voting for him as President.”
Dr. Bawumia took the opportunity to highlight some of the policies he has championed under his tenure as Vice President including Ghana Card issuance; Ghana Card as an International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) certified travel document for travel to Ghana; Ghana Post Digital Property Address System; Mobile Money Interoperability, and Ghana Card number as Tax Identification Number, Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) and National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) number.
Other initiatives were paperless ports; digitalisation of passport office; motor insurance database; Ghana.gov platform; E-pharmacy; Zipline Medical Drones Delivery; digitalisation of tax-filing; No Guarantor Student Loans with Ghana Card; One- Constituency, One- Ambulance; Agenda 111, Sinohydro Barter Agreement; provision of hydroxyurea under NHIS for Sickle Cell Patients, and Zongo Development Fund.
Others include Bank of Ghana Gold Purchase programme; Gold for Oil policy; Go Ride taxi service for local drivers; System to tackle ghost names on Government payroll; automation of Premix Fuel distribution; purchase of ECG Credit on mobile phone, and digitalisation of ECG revenue collection, enrolment and renewal of NHIS membership on mobile phone, Births and Deaths Registry digitalisation, Ghana Card number at Birth for newborns, and One Student, One Laptop for Senior High School (SHS) Students.
Apart from that, he said Ghana has the largest medical drone delivery service in the world with six operational centres supplying medicines and blood products to 2,800 health facilities across the country.
The E-pharmacy platform, he said, had 2,500 pharmacies hooked onto it, while all the teaching and regional hospitals in the country had been networked for quality healthcare services.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent