The 2016 vice presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has stated that the only thing President Mahama can boastfully claim to have transformed over the last 8 years of his stewardship is corruption.
Addressing a rally in Bolgatanga on Sunday, August 28, 2016, Dr. Bawumia explained that the many cases of corruption that have rocked the government of President Mahama give credence to the fact that the main focus of his administration has been to superintend over the looting of the nation’s resource.
“SADA, the vehicle that was supposed to bring about Northern development has been transformed into a vehicle for corruption. They said they were rearing Guinea fowls under SADA. When we asked them of the whereabouts of the guinea fowls, we were told they had run to Burkina Faso,” he said.
Corruption, Dr. Bawumia bemoaned, “has been transformed under President Mahama, with headline cases such as Woyome, GYEEDA, Smartty’s scandals, amongst others. Today, corruption is running at the speed of a Ford Expedition coming from Burkina Faso.”
To this end, Nana Akufo-Addo’s running mate is urging residents of the three northern regions not to pay heed to President Mahama’s tribal and divisive politics, with 3 months to the December elections.
“When John Mahama comes to you to tell to vote for him because he is from the North, tell him that he has destroyed your lives and he is not to be trusted. Tell him you have another northern brother, and he is called Dr. Bawumia, and he is the one you are going to support,” he said, much to the delight and approval of the thousands gathered at the Bolgatanga Jubilee Park.
NPP did more with less resources
Explaining why the people of Bolgatanga, and, indeed, all Ghanaians, should repose their confidence in the NPP, Dr. Bawumia stated that, between 2001 and 2008, the NPP had at its disposal, from loans and taxes, only GH¢20 billion to develop Ghana.
“With this small amount of money, the NPP, through its vision for the country, brought the National Health Insurance Scheme, the National Youth Employment programme, the School Feeding programme, the Capitation Grant, the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), the Free Maternal Care, the Metro Mass Transit, MASLOC, and paid teacher training and nursing training allowances. When we inherited the economy in 2000, it was growing at 3.7%. When we left office it was growing at 9.1%,” he added.
The Mahama government, which on the other hand has had GH¢200 billion in loans and taxes, according to Dr. Bawumia, has succeeded in collapsing the economy, as well as collapsing all the social intervention programmes instituted by the erstwhile Kufuor government.
Nonetheless, Dr. Bawumia is reassuring Ghanaians that an NPP government, under the leadership of Nana Akufo-Addo, is “going to transform this economy, like you have never seen before. We are going to create jobs in this economy. All the things we are saying we are going to do has confused them. They keep asking ‘where are you going to get the money to do this?’ The answer is that, ‘It is all about competent economic management’.
“When we had GH¢20 billion, we transformed the economy. They couldn’t do it with GH¢200 billion. I am telling you if they stop stealing the money, there will be enough money to develop this country. We are going to allocate the resources of our nation to develop the priority areas of our country. This is going to happen in Ghana under Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo,” he continued.
With President Mahama’s government focusing on “how to steal the money” Dr. Bawumia reiterated that “when Nana Akufo-Addo comes into office, the NDC will be completely dazed with the sort of economic management that is going to take place in this country. Hope is coming, change is coming.”
He assured teacher and nursing trainees that “we will fully restore your allowances,” and concluded with a message to Ghanaians, saying that “you are going to be part of the transformation of Ghana. There is change coming, and that person who is bringing the change is, Insha Allah, the next President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.”
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