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Bawumia Punches Chief Of Staff - Says He Must Vote For Nana If Northerners Should Vote For Mahama

By Nana Yaw Dwamena // New Statesman
General News Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia
SEP 29, 2016 LISTEN
Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia

The Vice presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Mahamudu Bawumai, has asked the Chief of Staff to vote for Nana Akufo-Addo when he goes to the polls on December 7, if he is convinced about the tribal and regional based campaign he is championing among the electorate in the three regions of the north in his desperate effort to save his boss from the imminent defeat.

Chief of Staff Julius Debrah, during his recent campaign tour to the northern part of the country, asked the electorate there to vote for President Mahama because “he is your own brother”.

Making allusion to his comments, Dr Bawumia wondered why the Chief of Staff was not applying the same principle to urge the electorate in the Eastern Region to also vote for the Presidential Candidate of the NPP, Nana Akufo-Addo, who hails from that region.

The Chief of Staff is from the Eastern Region, and Dr Bawumia believes per his own logic he should be prepared to cast his votes for Nana Akufo-Addo at the December 7 polls, if indeed voting for someone from “your region is what is needed to positively transform the lives of an individual or group”.

“Over the weekend we heard the Chief of Staff in the North saying that John Mahama is from the North so people from the North should vote for him. Ironically, the Chief of Staff is from the Eastern region, so why is he not voting for Nana Akufo-Addo? The Chief of Staff thinks he can deceive us,” Dr Bawumia said yesterday.

He added: “The people of the North do not need the Chief of Staff to remind them that Mahama is their brother; the people of the North are witnesses to the corruption and incompetence. What happened to the SADA money? The people of the North remember how John Mahama allowed money meant for their development to be stolen by his people.”

Addressing a rally at Diaso in the Upper West Denkyira Constituency of the Central region, Dr Bawumia stated that the NDC, realising that the record of President Mahama is a bad one on which it cannot campaign and win the upcoming elections, had decided to seek refuge in the message of division.

“If the NDC think they have done enough, why should they use tribal politics? If President John Mahama believes he has done enough for the north, northerners would have seen it themselves and would not need the Chief of staff to tell them what the President has done,” he said.

Dr Bawumia observed that the NDC had resorted to campaign of division, regionalism and tribalism because it had realized the Mahama record of unprecedented corruption and incompetence cannot be used to convince the electorate.

He, however, noted that the crude tactic was destined to fail because the people would ultimately remember the John Mahama administration for its corruption, mismanagement and the hardships foisted on the people.

“The NDC know that they have not performed. They know they did not work for us and so they have decided to preach division in this country with the hope that it will help them. They have begun and will tell you that the NPP does not like Northerners or this group or the other group so doesn’t vote for them. Is this what develops a nation? If you have performed, everyone will know you have performed. You will not need to play one group against the other to win”, Dr Bawumia said.

He explained to the gathering that the December 7 election is ultimately about who can deliver to improve on the lives of the people, noting that even though he is from the North, he would not just campaign on that fact.

He said the most important reason why the NPP must be voted for in the December election is that the party, led by Nana Akufo-Addo, has the competent and visionary team that can be trusted to change the lives of Ghanaians positively and bring the development, jobs and prosperity desired.

Dr Bawumia, who has been on a tour of constituencies in the Central region since Monday, was accompanied on his tour in the Upper West Denkyira Constituency by Member of Parliament for the Constituency, Benjamin Ayeh, and the NPP Parliamentary Candidate for the Constituency, Samuel Nsonwa Gyan.

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