Opinions of Friday, 7 April 2023

Columnist: Bawah Chakilia Latif

Dr. Bawumia, John Mahama and the fight for Northern/Zongo votes in 2024

The NPP and NDC flags The NPP and NDC flags

We of the present generation owe coming generations to build a country that will not be burdened by corruption or weakened by incompetence. We need to pass a country that is safe, protected, and well-planned, with an admirable economy, a highly sustainable employment system, and very little domestic and external debt.

Ghanaians have seen and felt it all under the 4/5 years presidency of John Mahama and the NDC. The NDC, moving into the 2024 elections has resorted to the strategy of constantly repackaging and rebranding John Mahama for Ghanaians to accept him as a sort of messiah, especially to the people in the five Northern Regions and hundreds of Zongo communities across the country.

They are repackaging and rebranding John Mahama for the people of the northern and Zongo communities to accept as their own and hope on him once again.

It is a truism that John Mahama is our own but what legacy has his presidency bequeathed the northern and Zongo communities? The answer is known obviously to himself and the NDC. It is a legacy of shame and backwardness.

The people of the northern and Zongo communities obviously want our own to be president like all others but we need our own who will bring us the needed development. We want our own who will not preside over the looting of funds meant for our development. We want our own who will not preside over the lack of feeding grants for senior High Schools again.

We want our own who will not preside over the cancellation of Teacher and Nursing Trainee Allowances. We want our own who will not preside over the stealing of our SADA money and we want our own who will not preside over so much corruption in this country.

We want our own who will continue to improve upon our health care system and provide services for our socio-economic advancement.

Integrity, honesty, fair play, and competence are valuable customs that we cherish so much in Northern Ghana and the Zongo communities. John Dramani Mahama has failed to hold these cherished values in his presidency as once stated by NDC’s own Hon.Martin Amidu .

We, therefore, need our own who will electrify these values in his presidency. We have enjoyed enough of his incompetence and corruption. We have experienced enough of his bad governance and mismanagement and so we have found a perfect replacement for him. We have found an incorruptible leader.

We have found a competent leader. We have found a selfless leader, a visionary leader with a good sense of judgment who loves this country more than his pockets.

Any objective person who has keenly followed the political history of Ghana will conclude that Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia is the solution to Ghana’s economic crisis. He will be a competent and incorruptible president. That is why he has been the thorn in the flesh of the NDC and a focal point of rival attack and attention in every year’s contest for the presidency as succinctly said by Professor H. Kwesi Prempeh.

Dr. Bawumia has established an impeccable brand in Ghanaian politics that will continue to threaten the NDC and even within our own party, the NPP. He is one of the most experienced economists in the political history of Ghana whose expertise has shaped the politics of Ghana.

In the heat of the 2016 presidential elections, the late Mr. Amissah-Arthur of the NDC, then running mate of John Mahama and former governor of the Bank of Ghana could not offset any of the economic damages that the NDC caused as indicated by Dr. Bawumia. The economy under the NDC is always like a car without an engine that is impossible to move.

We wish John Mahama well in his quest to lead the NDC again but the 2024 Elections is for Dr. Bawumia and the NPP, In sha Allah.