Politics of Thursday, 9 November 2023

Source: peacefmonline.com

Dr. Bawumia has never portrayed his father as ‘irresponsible’ - Nana Akomea replies Adongo

Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia

The Chief Executive Officer of the InterCity State Transport Corporation, Nana Akomea has fired back at the Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo, for rebuking the Vice President of the Republic, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.

Commenting on an article titled "From Cleaner to Flagbearer" which talks about the life of Dr. Bawumia, Hon. Adongo feels the Vice President has misrepresented his father, portraying him as "irresponsible".

"I want to tell my brother that if he wants to know what poverty is, then he has to be reborn. He should stop creating false images of poverty to associate his life with. Because he was a privileged child. If you read the story, it was very silent about his father. So you will think that he was born into a poor, illiterate family.

“Dr. Bawumia’s father was a Minister of State in the first republic for the entire northern territory. In fact, he was the Minister for Agriculture and cabinet minister at the time. Is he suggesting that his father was an irresponsible man and didn’t take care of him? So tell him to stop painting his father black," he slammed the Veep.

In a quick riposte to Hon. Adongo, Nana Akomea seeks to set the record straight, and in a statement by him, he replies, "At every opportunity Dr. Bawumia has had to talk about his father, he has extolled his father’s virtues and thanked his late father profusely for the loving upbringing for him and his siblings, the latest occasion being last Saturday, November 4, 2023, at the Accra Sports Stadium when Bawumia assumed the flag bearership of the NPP. All of us heard the tribute he paid to his father."

He added, "Many of us who had the opportunity to study abroad had one time or another engaged in casual, temporary jobs like cleaning, restaurant, or supermarket checkout work to supplement our personal housekeeping expenses. That does not mean our fathers back home were uncaring."

Read the statement below:

In relating his life experiences, Dr. Bawumia often narrates events in his student days, including stories of how he had to do low-skilled jobs like cleaning to supplement his funding.

Hon. Adongo, NDC MP for Bolgatanga, has taken issue with this and accused Bawumia of commentary that sought to denigrate his (Bawumia’s) father, Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia.

Indeed, Dr. Bawumia has done no such thing. At every opportunity Dr. Bawumia has had to talk about his father, he has extolled his father’s virtues and thanked his late father profusely for the loving upbringing for him and his siblings, the latest occasion being last Saturday, November 4, 2023, at the Accra Sports Stadium when Bawumia assumed the flag bearership of the NPP. All of us heard the tribute he paid to his father.

Many of us who had the opportunity to study abroad had one time or another engaged in casual, temporary jobs like cleaning, restaurant, or supermarket checkout work to supplement our personal housekeeping expenses.

That does not mean our fathers back home were uncaring. Indeed, these undertakings were usually done on the blind side of our fathers and only satisfied our desires to increase our incomes by our own efforts.

It is also a mark of the man that he was humble enough, despite his family circumstances, to engage in casual, temporary work opportunities to supplement his scholarship funds, etc.

Indeed, it is those life experiences that have grounded Bawumia as a humble, down-to-earth person, despite the high positions he has occupied in his adult life.