Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia yesterday told a cross section of media players that he is more of a grassroots candidate than an establishment one.
He said so during remarks preceding an informal engagement with the media players to round up his nationwide campaign ahead of tomorrow’s election at his Cantonments official residence.
His reference to himself as being more of a grassroots candidate than an establishment candidate should have put paid to what his competitors have often touted during their rancorous rhetoric on the campaign trail.
His relationship with the grassroots, who constitute the crop of delegates in tomorrow’s election of a flagbearer for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), he said, dates back to 15 years.
Sometimes during his campaign tour, some individuals come up with pictures they posed with him to take. This they do to show how long the Vice President has been with them.
It is this relationship with the grassroots who constitute the bulk of the voting delegates which convinces him that he would win the election tomorrow.
“The closeness that I have with the grassroots that my competitors do not know is about sometimes you getting to a place and somebody brings you a picture that you took with him in 2008 to tell you this us together. I have this affinity with the grassroots. This is one of the reasons that I think that I am more of a grassroots candidate than an establishment candidate,” Dr. Bawumia disclosed.
The proof of this, he said, would come through tomorrow.
“That is what we should look out for because about 98% of the grassroots are the delegates. They are the electoral coordinators and the polling station executives. And so the election is going to be a simple test about what the grassroots think about the candidates, and I believe in my relationship with the delegates over the years – a 15-year relationship. We have gone through ups and downs in the party. The bottom line is that I am more popular with the grassroots than with the establishment,” he pointed out.
He recalled how throughout the campaign he has been mindful of the fact that “this is an internal election, and therefore my message had to be targeted and focused on the delegates. I was equally mindful of the fact that we will need the party united and stronger to prosecute the national campaign for election 2024, hence my resolve to be decorous in my approach.”
By A.R. Gomda