President Akufo-Addo has justified his decision to choose Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as his Vice President.
This was when a pupil of the Association International School (AIS), Adwoa Boadiwaa asked what informed his decision to settle on the former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana.
In his response, an obviously surprised Akufo-Addo could not but tout the strong credentials of the man.
This was what he had to say “I think you are aware [that] in terms of the balance, people from the south, people from the north… I think that for the unity of the country, it is good that we have a leadership where Northerners and Southerners are together so that the country can remain united.
“He [Dr Mahamudu Bawumia] is from the North and I wanted somebody from the North to partner me for the election and then for the governance. He [Dr Mahamudu Bawumia] is also a clever man and I needed his brains to help me govern the country effectively” , he noted.
Apart from that, he said “he [Dr Mahamudu Bawumia] is an honest person. He speaks honestly to you. He is not one of those people who you have to guess what they are trying to say, he says what he has to say directly and I like that.
He therefore insisted “I prefer to deal with people who are very direct in what they say. These are some of the reasons why I chose Dr Bawumia to be my vice president” Akufo-Addo added.
On the question of how he manages to maintain a semblance of calmness in the face of fierce attacks and criticisms [in] “a country where Ministers, people in authority, the President, whoever you are, can be criticised.”
Meanwhile, he said “there was a time in Ghana when it wasn’t like that when one man spoke, that was that. I have never liked that kind of situation because I don’t believe that [there should be a situation] where one man knows everything.”
He therefore noted that “It is better to have a system where lots of ideas and lots of brains are brought forward to work with, so that is the first thing.”
“I approve of a system whereby people can criticize the President. When that happens, it will look strange when I get agitated when people start criticizing me. I am not God, I cannot be, none of us are, but we do our best” he emphasised.
“Criticism is good, it helps you to see things that you may not be seeing and it opens up different perspectives. A lot of times, you can disagree with your critics, but sometimes, there is something in the criticism that is of use and of benefit that [you can use to do something useful].
“That is the reason why I don’t get agitated when people criticize me, I think it is their right to do so just as much as I think it is my right to ignore their criticism if I think there is no substance in it” President Akufo-Addo further stated.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent