Why Dr. Bawumia Is The Right Person To Succeed Nana Addo -Episode 2

I catalogued among other things in episode I of this feature why Dr. Bawumia is the right person to succeed Nana Addo after his second tenure in 2024 which was published by Modern Ghana News, the most vibrant and authoritative news portal in Ghana.

But a handful of people took difference to my opinion but like i respectfully opined in episode 1 of this feature, an opinion is like a nose which everybody per the bricks of nature is entitled to have and for that reason, i was not taken aback by the numerous and different assertions people associated my first episode with.

In Ghana's political dispensation, it is a well-established fact that, since 1992, political power in Ghana have always changed hands only between NPP and NDC after every eight years reign. But the eight years cycle "jinx" in my solemn opinion can be broken by any of the two major political parties in our country.

Political analysts and observers have among other things attributed or given credence to internal wrangling over party flag bearership succession plan as the root cause of the eight years cycle "jinx" boundary. But ahead of elections 2024, the NPP without prejudice to the NDC has a chance in my candid opinion to surpass the eight years "jinx" if and only if they settle on the affable and indefatigable current Vice President Alhaji Dr. Mahamuud Bawumia as flagbearer of the party.

Dr. Bawumia without prejudice to any of the yet to declare contender (s) is already miles ahead and like the old adage says; "good products needs no advertisement" and Dr. Bawumia in his current stature is the true definition of that very old century adage.

Dr. Bawumia before his selection as then running mate to current president, His Excellency Nana Addo in 2008 was a novice with little or no political temperament but after a little of over a decade active participation in politics, he has needless to say chunked alot of political experience and has since become a tough nut to crack who sends shivers across the periphery of his political nemesis ( opposition parties ) as and when he takes turn to address critical issues that are of interest to our nation Ghana.

Like the immediate past Upper West Regional Communications Director of the ruling New Patriotic Party Mr. Umar Nuhu rightly put it, the NPP this time, "have inadvertently built a solid candidate waiting only to be slotted in by the delegates with little, or no sweat at all to cruise to a third historic victory." To wit, Dr. Bawumia needs no branding or whatsoever again interms of who is popular among the prospective candidates to democratically win power for the NPP in 2024.

Dr. Bawumia we know is the former deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana whose indelible success stories cannot be diluted as it derived him to where he is today in Ghana's body politics.

In our current world where technology has taken centre stage, Dr. Bawumia's brilliance as a technocrat of Ghana's economy, has seen to the automation of our ports which brought an end to revenue leakage to the admiration of the sector players.

His success stories during his days as then deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana and now vice president are countless and pertinent among are that;

As then deputy Governor in charge of financial stability, he successfully maintained oversight over the soundness of the banking sector which continued to be stable and flourishing until Government few years ago took the decision to "clean-up" the banking sector.

He was instrumental in designing and implementing policy initiatives such as the abolition of the secondary reserve requirements and the opening up of the banking sector to competition.

As head of the Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Department, he implemented the analytical framework that guides monetary policy and the workings of the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of Ghana. The inflation targeting framework established was successful in reducing inflation from over 40% in 2000 to 10.2 % by 2007 while maintaining relative exchange rate stability con-currently.

Served as a member of the Government technical negotiating team on HIPC Paris Club and Completion Point Negotiations. Ghana completed the HIPC process successfully with significant debt relief of close to $4 billion with the active participation of Dr. Bawumia.

He was a member of the Government Team to Negotiate the Millennium Challenge Account Compact with the US Government.

He was also responsible for drafting the financial sector component of the MCA Compact. The MCA Compact yielded financing for $547 million of projects and was a member of the Government Technical Team on the Deregulation of the Petroleum Sector.

As Chairman of the Capital Markets Committee, he was responsible for the strategy for accessing the international capital markets with a debut $750 million dollars, which was four times oversubscribed and was a member of the Government team that undertook the successful road show to market Ghana to foreign investors.

He played a key role in the design and implementation of the e-zwich common platform for all banks, savings and loans companies and rural banks. This common platform resulted in the inter-operability across different financial institutions. The first nationwide technologically-driven platform for monetary transactions across the country, the e-zwich consequently placed Ghana on the map as then world leader in the application of biometric smartcard technology for banking the unbanked.

Dr. Bawumia was also part of the team that designed and implemented the successful redenomination of the cedi which at the time was hailed globally.

Under the aegis of Dr. Bawumia as vice president of Ghana, Ghanaians including Hon. Nana Akomeah, managing director of State Transport Company have commended or lauded him for his strides in ensuring that the Ghanaian economy is formalised through digitization. Largely for Bawumia, Ghana has seen digitization platforms which include National Digital Property Addressing System which provides Ghanaians with a unique permanent digital address linked to postcodes, the introduction of paperless port operations, the integrated e-immigration system, e-procurement, e-parliament, e-justice, e-cabinet and smart workplaces among other initiatives and the development of an interoperability system to integrate government databases.

Undoubtedly, Dr. Bawumia is one of the brightest, eloquent, zealous, affable, competent, intelligent and most challenging politician one can find to have ever graced Ghana's political landscape.

Since his nomination as running mate to then candidate Akuffo Addo in 2008, 2012 and 2016, votes of the ruling New Patriotic Party has seen a surge in the then three and now five Northern Regions and the immediate past presidential elections bears testimony to this analogy and one would not be wrong to give credence to the Bawumia factor.

Since Dr. Bawumia's emergence into the political scene, he has proven himself worthy of praise and his astute initiatives as a vice president has seen to the transformation of Ghana's economy into a life changing one which has endeared him the hearts of Ghanaians.

The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP, "Governor" Wontumi is on record to have said in a news article published by MyNewsGh.com that, the biggest achievement of president Nana Addo is not 1D1F but rather his discovery of a political novice in the person of Dr. Mahamuud Bawumia and making him a great political person. It is not for anything at all that he and other political big wigs and analysts including the likes of Allotey Jacobs (Former Central Regional Chairman of NDC), Alhaji Sunday ( NPP Northern Regional vice Chairman ), former Upper West Regional Communications Director of the party, Mr. Umar Nuhu and madam Afia Pokuah of UTV are tipping him to be the precursor of the NPP in the 2024 presidential elections.

Dr. Bawumia has also added alot of dynamism to the face of Ghana's politics from the everyday politics of insults to issue - based which ultimately made him a top notch candidate and a highly competitive presidential candidate for the NPP to be considered for election 2024.

Like I trivially intimated in my first episode of this feature, Dr. Bawumia is a Northerner and if the NPP ever wants to exonerate itself from the NDC's tag on it as pro-Akan then, the golden opportunity to do that is forever now.

Besides the above reasons, he is also known for his numerous donations to the less privileged and destitutes in society across the country and notable among them is the construction of a two bedroom house for madam Dari Poga, an eighty (80) year old leper at Gurungu in the Upper West Region immediately he heard about her plight after JoyNews aired her documentary titled "Withered Skins “detailing her situation. As a "Zongonian" himself, he made donations to Zongo communities such as the Yendi Muslim community in Northern Region to support the completion of the Yendi Mosque Project which at the time was at 40% completion stage and a host of others which can be read in an article written by Mr. Iddi Adam Osman, a teacher and a political activist titled, " Mr. Mahamudu Bawumia is an asset to the Muslim community in Ghana " which was published by Ghanaweb.

The above traits and many others in my candid view makes Dr. Bawumia the rightful candidate to succeed Nana Addo to successfully sail the party through if political power is indeed what the party is seeking.

Let me forget not to caution once again that the party must in the spirit of oneness and togetherness be cogent, show decorum and not be destructive in their arguments over who replaces Akuffo Addo ahead of elections 2024 to avoid apathy.

And until then, watch out for the third (3rd) episode of this feature.

Shalom, peace!

By; Ezekiel Abdul Aziz a.k.a Majority Leader

Email; [email protected]

Contact (s): 0595845084 / 0540686895

The writer holds a B.A in Ghanaian Language Education (Gonja) with Linguistics as a second subject area from the prestigious University Of Education, Winneba and he is also a Radio / TV presenter from Damongo in the Savannah Region aspiring to become a Lecturer.