The vice-presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has challenged President John Mahama to feel sorry for the plight of Ghanaians and not the electorate from Northern Ghana who have decided to vote him out of office.

“You should pity people who do not have a job; you should pity people who cannot access healthcare because the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has collapsed. You should feel pity for school children who are going hungry because the National School Feeding programme is collapsing.

You should feel pity for secondary school children who are going hungry because of feeding grants. You should feel pity for graduates who cannot get jobs three and six years after graduating. You should feel pity for cocoa farmers whose plants are dying and fishermen who cannot get fish because of the high cost of inputs,” he said on Monday, November 21.

President Mahama, while campaigning in Lawra, in the Upper West Region said: “I pity Northerners who are calling for change,” adding that he felt sad for the New Patriotic Party’s vice-presidential candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia – a northerner – because the NPP will only “use you and dump you”.

But Dr Bawumia, who is with Nana Akufo-Addo on a campaign tour in the Upper East Region, pointed out at a rally that the suffering masses are those calling for change and are determined to vote for a competent and incorruptible leader who will develop the country.

“These are the people who want change, and it shows the insensitivity of this government and this president who has the audacity to say that he feels pity for northerners who want change. It is not only northerners, but everyone wants change,” he said.

“We want a visionary leader who is not corrupt and competent, and that is Nana Akufo-Addo, and it does not matter whether you are a northerner or southerner.”