'Bawumia Has Thick Skin' …Nana Addo Declares

Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and wife, Samira

FLAGBEARER OF the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has likened his running mate, Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia, to himself, declaring, 'We both have thick skin so we are not worried by NDC insults.'

He expressed surprise over the insults rained on Dr. Bawumia by the NDC right after the NPP running mate clearly outlined the true picture of the state of Ghana's economy.

Instead of the NDC to take key lessons from the free economic tuition offered by Dr. Bawumia, Nana Addo said, 'They rather chose to insult him and divert attention from important issues raised by the young man who is a luminary in economics'.

Nana Akufo-Addo, whose desire is to see a prosperous Ghana where citizens would be happy, told the NDC that if they thought hurling insults at him and his running mate would put them to sleep, then they had failed.

'Dr. Bawumia is just like me, we both have thick skins therefore we are not worried when the NDC decides to cast insults at us,' the NPP presidential candidate told NPP functionaries at the Kumasi Polytechnic campus on Friday.

Nana Akufo-Addo stated that 'I and Dr. Bawumia have vowed to bring our expertise to bear so that mother Ghana, which is currently in depression, is restored to hope.'

He added that 'our resolve to make Ghana a better place to live is unshaken, therefore no amount of NDC insults and insinuations could deter us from realizing our ambitions of winning the polls in 2012 to transform the country.'

He chastised the President Mills administration for lying to the electorate to win political power in 2008, lamenting that 'you can't develop a country properly by peddling lies and insults.'

Nana Akufo-Addo recollected that President Mills, during the  2008 campaign, lied that the NPP administration had collapsed the country therefore the populace should vote the NDC into office to restore the country to normalcy.

He said the NDC candidate then promised to reduce the price of petrol, reduce electricity and water tariffs, build affordable housing for the poor and put money into the pockets of Ghanaians.

Now, almost four years after assuming political power, Nana Akufo- Addo asked his audience, 'Has the NDC government been able to reduce the price of petrol just as he promised you in 2008?' and the crowd yelled back 'no.'

He asked them again if the government had been able to reduce water and electricity tariffs and the crowd answered, 'They are even higher now.'

The NPP flag-bearer inquired from the gathering if they had the jobs President Mills had promised them and they answered 'we are still jobless.'

Nana Akufo-Addo again asked, 'Do you have money in your pockets just as President Mills promised you?' and they retorted 'we now have holes in our pockets.'

He stated that after touring almost every part of this country, he had realized that the citizenry were facing hardships due to bad policies introduced by the visionless NDC government.

Nana Akufo-Addo insisted that Ghana could not afford to be mismanaged by a weak and visionless government, and prayed the electorate to support him to become president in 2013, promising to turn Ghana's fortunes around.

The ex-Foreign Affairs Minister openly wept over the reckless state that Ghana was in due to bad leadership, observing that Ghana, with its abundant natural and human resources, should not wallow in adverse poverty.

Nana Akufo-Addo tasked the youth of the country to stand behind him in the coming polls, assuring them that his government would make the development of Ghana's youth its prime target.

He lauded his partnership with Dr. Bawumia, who is a luminary in economics, stating that the incoming NPP government would heal Ghana's wounds and make the country one of the best in the world.

The event was the Ashanti Regional NPP Youth Forum held ostensibly to enable Nana Akufo-Addo to officially introduce his running mate, Dr. Bawumia, to the party's youth in the region.

 FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi