Samira Bawumia
Samira Ramadan Bawumia, wife of the vice presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has categorically denied using insulting language against President Mahama and dared her accusers to prove with counter evidence.
Samira, in a ‘no-holds-barred’ interview with Berla Mundi on Rythmz on GhOne TV Wednesday, said she speaks on issues but not about persons, and that she was not brought up to insult under any circumstance.
“I have never insulted the president, it is not me. I do not insult people. Their problem is that how dare you say this but it is not about proving that what I am saying is not true. But if we can’t criticise, then why don’t we close shop…
“I saw a made-up story that I have insulted the president. But the video of what I said is viral and everyone can watch and see that I have not said what I have been accused of saying. They created a distortion and started to insult me based on that distortion.
“I do not think that we should be in a system that when you are accused of saying something, you should be the one to prove that you did not say it. I think the persons making the accusation should be the one to prove that you said it. There is no prove as such,” Samira mentioned.
She continued… “People sit in Accra or in their comfort zones and they do not know the poverty situation in the country. I was given some water to drink in one of our rounds. And I drank t because I had to drink it and within two hours, my stomach was upset.
“I remember I took a picture of one of the places we went and the water they served us and some people thought it was porridge in the bowl and this is the water the people were drinking and they share the same water with animals and all they need is just one borehole and it costs below GH¢10,000.
“And so when you go to places like this and you see what people are doing, when you speak, you know what you are saying. I speak for such people so when I hear talks about people saying things that are not true about me, I just focus.”
Mrs Bawumia said she has developed a tough skin to endure the orchestrated insults which come her way simply because she is a woman in politics.
“I do not really care what my attackers say. Every woman in politics is …the surest way to push a woman down is to say ‘she is this’, ‘she is that’ so we have to stand up against that. Once you have the courage to speak as a woman, then, hey, you are this.
“As a woman, once you have a career in politics, then you are in trouble. But I am more than what they think of me and I know myself.
“For me as a woman [in politics], I am used to these types of attacks. I am not the first person to face such attacks. Every woman gets that and it is unfortunate but I know why I am doing this.”
By Halifax Ansah-Addo