A former Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive, Felix Mensah Nii Anang-La, has said that Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the 2024 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), is a better problem solver than former President John Dramani Mahama.

In an interview on the sidelines of a funeral for his mother, Comfort Mansa Odai, at the Naval Base in Tema Manhean on August 31, 2024, the former MCE said that the evidence that this is the case lies in the fact that the Vice President’s solutions to national problems are practical while those of John Dramani Mahama are nebulous.

“The clearest indication is in how the solutions proposed by Dr. Bawumia are tailored and focused on specific problems; for example, Dr. Bawumia says he will ensure that all Ghanaians benefit from digitalization by making smartphone ownership possible through a credit system, while for Mr. Mahama, his proposal is a 24-hour economy that has been hard to really explain,” the former MCE said.

According to him, Dr. Bawumia has also demonstrated in government that digitalization, which will be the main thrust of his government’s policy roll, is possible by making available the necessary tools for it even while he is just Vice President.

“Students are being supplied with laptops, senior high schools, and universities are getting free WiFi, and all of these are under the digitalization agenda that Dr. Bawumia has been talking about."

“On the contrary, former President Mahama seems to have only realized the importance of things like free SHS, nurse and teacher trainee allowances, and even proper agricultural practices after leaving office,” he added.

The former MCE, who has been out of the public eye since handing over to the current MCE, Yohane Amarh Ashitey, after a reshuffle in 2021, was buoyant and lively.

He made it clear that even though he has not been actively in office, he has had his eye on the public discourse ever since.

“You read the manifestoes of both Dr. Bawumia and Mr. Mahama, and you cannot fail but to see the clear difference. Dr. Bawumia is talking about further pragmatizing policies in the semblance of the oil for a gold arrangement to reduce fuel prices; Mr. Mahama seems to have resigned the country to the instabilities of the world market,” he said.

Meanwhile, the former MCE added that even as Dr. Bawumia has helped President Akufo-Addo fulfill 80% of the manifesto promises that he made before the 2016 elections, Mr. Mahama fulfilled only 28% of his promises.

“As Dr. Bawumia pointed out, as Vice President, his influence is limited, but still, it is clear to anyone who has eyes to see that his impact in the area of digitalization, which was given to him as part of his limited role in government, has been transformational. Definitely, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia is a better problem solver than former President Mahama,” he said.

Those in attendance at the well-attended funeral include Nii Kwartei Titus-Glover, Greater Accra Regional Minister, the MP for Tema East, Isaac Ashai Odamtten, and the Tema MCE, Yohane Amarh Ashitey.