The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority yesterday launched an all-out assault on Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia for declaring that he had a vision for Ghana.
The Vice President, who is seeking to lead the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) as flagbearer in the 2024 elections, recently told his party supporters that he has his own vision for Ghana, which is to see the country leverage on technology, data and systems for inclusive economic growth.
But the Minority is enraged because the man is proving to be an irresistible force, aiming to box him into a small shortbread tin with a tartan ribbon.
Venomous Vision
Led by the Acting Ranking Member of Finance Committee, Isaac Adongo, the Minority said “Dr. Bawumia is the first economist in Ghana with the most venomous vision that has landed” Ghanaians on life support.
“He now wants to be president with a vision to discount us from the last support to kill us completely,” he stated at the press conference in Parliament.
He continued, “If Dr. Bawumia had any iota of credibility, a modicum of shame in the eye, and respect for Ghanaians, he would have stayed away from contemplating to be president.”
He quizzed, “After achieving the unenviable record of leading Ghana to the IMF, breaking all negative records of economic management and running away from his trained specialisation of economics to digitalisation, what has he to offer?”
Mr. Adongo, who is the NDC MP for Bolgatanga Central, accused the Vice President of running away from his field of training as economist and venturing into digitalisation.
“How can reading some literature on Yahoo turn Dr. Bawumia into a digitalisation expert?
“Just in case your Google search did not equip you enough to understand digitisation, let me help you understand that digitalisation thrived on internet and telecom infrastructure, and to demonstrate the unparalleled record of the NDC and John Dramani Mahama to anchor Ghana’s digital economy and challenge you to show us your record of investment in digital infrastructure,” he said.
For him, one-village-one-dam is one vision Dr. Bawumia espoused while in opposition, adding that “it was subsequently implemented in government.”
“Dr. Bawumia should speak to this and tell us what this vision has brought to the economy of Ghana. We can only remember these dugouts as one of wasteful ventures that had become death-traps, killing people in rural areas.
He said Dr. Bawumia’s naive $1 million per constituency a year had rather led to massive arrears and commitments, noting that his establishment of development authorities had also become a conduit for siphoning and the looting of public funds.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House