Beyond Dr Bawumia's competence and good character

Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has not only proven to be a man of competence with good character, but also capable of executing a successful electioneering campaign. Typical of a competent person, Dr Bawumia used the 2008 electioneering campaign to adjust to the demands of the Ghanaian voter.

The Economist and Statistician brought his knowledge to bear when the New Patriotic Party needed him most in 2012. As a Statistician, Dr Bawumia led a team of NPP members to gather data on the outcome of the 2012 general elections when the party took the decision to contest the results.

Unsatiated with the good work he had done in gathering the evidence they needed to support their claims in court, Dr Bawumia jumped into the witness box to add meaning to the evidence he had led his team to gather. It is not for anyone to give account of his great performance in court as the lead witness of the NPP in the 2012 election petition.

Ghanaians saw how he exposed the irregularities that denied his party victory in the 2012 elections. His excellent interpretation of the NPP's evidence and electoral malfeasance that characterized the whole process caused the lead counsel of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, to have a tough time in court as he was coerced to prolong his cross examination for months.

At the end of the day, the NPP did not only lose the election petition case by a hair's breath, but all the judges also agreed with the Vice President that the whole exercise was indeed dented with irregularities. Thus, through Dr Bawumia's intelligent analysis in court, the judges, including the five whose judgement went against the NPP agreed with the Vice President that the election was indeed punctured with avoidable irregularities. This in turn led to massive electoral reforms.

Then came 2016 when Dr Bawumia took Ghanaians by surprise with his evidence- based electioneering campaign. The Economist diagnosed the Ghanaian economy with a strange "Economic Anemia." With this, he took the campaign to the already dazed John Mahama NDC-led team.

Ghanaians admired him as he used his Economics lectures, to expose the NDC as economic mismanagers. He finally succeeded in scaring the NDC from discussing the economy when he set 170 Economics questions for the then Vice President, the late Emissa Paa Kwesi Arthur, to answer. These questions still remain unanswered.

The Veep's intimidating campaign silenced the NDC team. This created a lee way for the NPP to amplify their One District One Factory, One Ambulance One Constituency, One Village One Dam and free Senior High School (SHS) messages.

Beyond this, I must state that the social forces surrounding the 2024 elections favour Dr Bawumia than all the major candidates of the NPP and the NDC. Any attempt to consider any other person other than the Vice President will create serious problems for the ruling NPP. Continue reading to either agree or disagree with me!

First of all, NDC's choice of former President John Dramani Mahama as their 2024 Presidential Candidate makes the work easier for the NPP if they go with Dr Bawumia.

Considering the fact that the Eastern and Ashanti Regions are the strongholds of the NPP, the voters in these areas will not have difficulty deciding on Dr Bawumia over Mr Mahama since the former belongs to the party they have sacrificed so much to build.

In case of the five regions in the North, the voters are connected to both Dr Bawumia and Mr Mahama. This makes these places a serious battle ground for the two. Nonetheless, the performance of the NPP since Dr Bawumia came into the picture shows that the Veep is most likely to give Mr Mahama a knock out in the 2024 elections in the North. This stems from the fact that the ruling party kept on increasing their votes since 2008 when Dr Bawumia became the running mate.

Then comes Greater Accra and Central Regions! For these two regions, especially Central, the voters would go for the party that is able to execute a convincing electioneering campaign. Trust Dr Bawumia to do better than Mr Mahama in this regard!

The case of Western, Oti, Bono East, Western North, Bono and Ahafo Regions may not be different from Central and Greater Accra Regions. They are most likely to go for a candidate with a clear message and incorruptible character and Dr Bawumia is ahead of Mr Mahama in this case as well.

Volta Region will definitely vote for their NDC in the same manner that the Ashanti and Eastern Regions would go for their NPP.

These circumstances demand that the NPP delegates ignore the strange caste system the Alan Kyerematen camp is preaching and consider Dr Mahamudu Bawumia as their next flagbearer if they really want to break the 8.

The author is an essayist and a social commentator.

By Bala Ali