Vice-President Bawumia greeting a chief in UER
Vice-President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has challenged the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and its flagbearer to name a single development project undertaken in the Upper East Region by them for the eight years that they were in government.
According to him, the NDC only takes advantage of the people of the northern parts of the country to get into government but do not “commensurate” the effort with development projects, questioning the development record of former President John Dramani Mahama and his party in the region.
Addressing a durbar of chiefs and people of Mirigu in the Chiana Paga Constituency, Dr. Bawumia, who is touring Upper East, stated that the NDC failed to give people in the region a development project even under the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) initiative.
“The people of Upper East, I know you would recall that in 2012, former President Mahama came to this region and the north and told us we should vote for him because he was our northern brother,” Dr. Bawumia recalled.
“He went into office for eight years as Vice-President and President. Can the people tell us what exactly Mr. Mahama did for the Upper East Region for eight years? What legacy did John Mahama leave in the Upper East Region after eight years?
“The signature development programme for the northern region was SADA. Upper East Region, what are the projects that SADA left behind? Can you point to any project after the $100 million? Where are the projects? Of course we know about the guinea fowls that flew to Burkina Faso,” he fired.
Dr. Bawumia said further that unlike former President Mahama, who wasted $100 million dollars under the pretext of developing the north, his successor, President Akufo-Addo had demonstrated his commitment to the development of the north with several visible projects.
“Akufo-Addo’s vision is a different vision. With Akufo-Addo, you have your other brother, Dr. Bawumia as Vice-President, and we are delivering. So far in the Upper East alone, we are doing 1,488 projects and we have completed 688 projects in four years.
“We have begun the biggest investment in northern Ghana since independence, which is the Pwalugu Dam.
“Does the NDC under Mr. Mahama have any comparable policies during their eight years in office? In Mr. Mahama’s eight years, not one road was completed in the whole of the Upper East Region. Today, we are virtually done with Bolga-Bawku road.”
Dr. Bawumia asked the people to support the NPP government, saying, “Let’s keep going forward. We don’t want to go backward. So vote for number one, which means you are taking one step forward; number two is two steps backward.”
At Kanjaga in the Builsa South District, the Vice-President said the NPP was the only party for all Ghanaians and charged the people not to buy into the propaganda of the NDC that the NPP was a party only for Akans.
“Don’t be deceived, NPP is a party for all of us and not southerners. I am a northerner, other ministers and CEOs are northerners. If the NPP was an Akan party would they have been appointed?” he quizzed.
Dr. Bawumia said those who claimed to love the people of northern Ghana only professed with their mouth and not deeds, asserting, “If they liked northerners they would have developed the north under their eight years in government.”
By Ernest Kofi Adu & Ebo Bruce-Quansah