Mahamudu Bawumia, Running Mate to Nana Akufo-Addo, has stated that what matters most in politics is the kind of leadership that advances the interests of the people.
According to him, even though President Mahama is from the North, his kind of leadership, characterized by incompetence and corruption, which has worsened the plight of many Ghanaians, does not make him the type of Northern President northerners want and can be proud of.

Dr Bawumia made these comments in Kaleo in the Nadowli-Kaleo Constituency of the Upper West Region, Saturday, in apparent response to comments the President also made in the Upper West a day earlier.

"President John Mahama tells us that he is our Northern brother; that he is our Northern son and so we should vote for him. He told us this in 2012 and he is back in the Upper West Region and he is spreading the same message, that he is our Northern President. But we have a Northern President who presides over the looting of funds meant for the development of the North; we have a Northern President who presides over the lack of feeding grants for senior high schools in the north; we have a Northern President who is cancelling teacher and nursing training allowances and we have a Northern President who is presiding over so much corruption in this country", he said.

Dr Bawumia added that Northerners would not be reduced to people who should only be happy because they have a fellow Northerner as President even though the leadership of that Northerner continues to pile up suffering after suffering on Northerners.
He explained what Northerners want is leadership that solves their problems and leadership that works for all of Ghana, including the people of the North.
"So you can just not tell me that simply because you are a Northerner, I should keep you in office to continue to make me suffer. We will not suffer just to keep President John Mahama in office. We want someone to come to office to solve our problems, not somebody who sits in office and says I am a Northern President so I am going to let them steal your SADA money, cancel your Teacher and Nursing Training Allowances, collapse the National Health Insurance Scheme and not provide any services for your socio-economic advancement; that is not the type of Northern President we want."
"We want a President of vision, integrity and a President who is honest and a President who will get up and do the work for all the people of Ghana including the people from the 3 Northern Regions," he added.

The NPP Vice Presidential Candidate remarked that not only had President Mahama brought untold suffering on Northerners and failed to show the needed commitment to developing the North and all of Ghana, his leadership had also damaged the Northern brand with corruption and a bad record over all.

"I would rather have a President who advances the interest of the people of the North; I would rather have a President who does things that put us forward, and that is why we are asking for change."

"Yes John Mahama is our brother but he has failed us completely. In fact, northerners never used to be known as corrupt people. We were always poor but we had integrity; we had honesty and we could never be pointed at as being corrupt. Today, we are being pointed at, that brand is being tarnished by President John Mahama who by the way is the worst performing President in the history of the 4th Republic, you can look at the economic data", he noted.