Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has responded to criticism from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and its flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama, regarding the fulfilment of NPP promises.
The NDC has argued that Dr. Bawumia, a key figure in the current government, should implement the party’s promises now rather than waiting until he is elected into power.
They have also criticised him for his performance in managing the economy, dubbing him the “Economic Messiah” that was never was.
In a media engagement on Sunday, August 25, Dr. Bawumia questioned Mahama’s bid to return to power, asking if the former President had fulfilled the policies he promised during his previous term.
He pointed out that Mahama had only delivered a fraction of his promises and criticised his economic management.
Dr. Bawumia highlighted several issues from Mahama’s tenure, including power outages, the cancellation of nursing allowances, and the collapse of businesses.
He emphasised that Ghanaians still remember the difficulties faced during Mahama’s presidency and reiterated that he would implement his policies and programmes once elected.
“Sometimes I get a little surprised about the former President when he talks about economic mismanagement because he should know his own record. We all don’t have short memories, really, we don’t have short memories. His record on economic mismanagement and what he left us with, in 2016 was an abysmal record.
“Just an abysmal record, we endured ‘Dumsor’ for 4 years, causing destruction of industries and livelihoods. People died because of Dumsor. The National Health Service virtually collapsed, National Ambulance was virtually dead. Unemployment was very high, GDP had declined, industry growth had declined because of Dumsor, and the banking sector ass on the verge of collapse.
“Cancellation of nursing allowances. We had many challenges he left us with, so when you juxtapose what we have done with what they did, it’s night and day. We have created 2.1 million jobs in the last 7 years. We have kept public sector workers employed we didn’t lay anybody off.
“We have built more railways than any other government, and we have built more libraries than any other government. We have built 54 major libraries. We have built more sporting facilities than any government. Even President Mahama, who was president, I’m only Vice President, but he was President. Why didn’t he do everything then? I mean, why is he coming back? He had full authority. I don’t have full authority.”