Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia
Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia has shot down one of the vile propaganda being peddled around by the opposition National Democratic Congress(NDC) that the governing party is anti-Northerners.
He has accordingly advised his fellow northerners to discard that notion, and rather consider the NPP as a party for all Ghanaians, irrespective of one’s ethnicity or geographical location.
According to the Vice-President, the recent day NPP takes its root from the Northern People’s Party (NPP), and therefore cannot be anti-Northerner, as being peddled by members of the opposition NDC.
Speaking at a durbar of chiefs and people at Kanjaga, in the Builsa South District of the Upper East Region, Dr Bawumia said: “The NPP is not a southern party. The Northern People’s Party is the core of the NPP. It is a party for all Ghanaians, North, South, East and West. Do not let anyone deceive you it is a ‘Kambonga’ party.”
The Vice-President wondered why persons of northern extraction have been appointed into various key positions in the country under the current administration if the NPP was an anti-Northern party.
Challenge
While addressing a durbar of chiefs and the people of Mirigu, in the Chiana Paga constituency, Dr Bawumia noted that former President Mahama took undue advantage of the people of the north during his time as President.
He challenged the former President to mention a single developmental project his government undertook in the Upper East Region under the failed Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) initiative.
“The people of Upper East, I know you will recall that in 2008, former President Mahama came to this region and the north and told us we should vote for him because he was our northern brother.
“He went into office for eight years as Vice-President and President. Can the Upper East tell us what exactly John Mahama did for the Upper East Region for eight years?” he challenged the NDC presidential candidate.
“The signature development programme for the northern region was SADA. Upper East Region, what are the projects that SADA left behind? Can you point to any project after $100m? Where are the projects? Of course, we know about the guinea fowls that flew to Burkina Faso,” he stated.
Dr Bawumia expressed disgust at the manner in which some $100m was misused by the Mahama administration at the expense of alleviating poverty in the north, as well as developing the northern part of the country.
NPP’s achievement
The Vice-President further noted that unlike Mr Mahama, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has demonstrated his commitment to the development of the north with several visible projects.
“Akufo-Addo’s vision is a different vision. With Akufo-Addo, you have your other brother, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia as Vice-President, and we are delivering.
“So far in Upper East alone, we are doing 1,488 projects, and we have completed 688 projects in four years. We have begun the biggest investment in northern Ghana since independence, which is the Pwalugu Dam,” he said.
“In addition to infrastructure, the NPP has introduced Planting for Food and Jobs to boost agriculture, One District, One Factory, One Village, One Dam, One Constituency, One Ambulance, NABCO, restoration of teachers and nurses’ trainee allowances, Free Senior High School education, which have impacted positively on the lives of the people of the Upper East Region. Does the NDC under John Mahama have any comparable policies during their eight years in office?
“In John Mahama’s eight years, not one road was completed in the whole of the Upper East Region. In eight years, they did not complete one road. Today, we are virtually done with Bolga-Bawku road amongst others in under four years,” he added.
Transformational leadership
At the palace of the paramount chief of Sirigu Traditional Area, Naba Roland Akwara Atogumdeya III, the Vice-President extolled the transformational leadership being provided by the current government, which is aimed at lifting the north out of poverty, unlike the Mahama administration.
Dr Bawumia underscored the significance of the 2020 polls in the development of the country saying, “we want the development of this country and the north. We have been left behind for long.”
“We are providing transformational leadership to lift the country from poverty, and we have demonstrated that through the various policies and programmes, including NaBCo, the Free SHS and many others,” he stated.
According to the Vice-President, the current administration stands for development, and it is charting a path that will ensure that Northern Ghana is developed in order to ameliorate the plight of its residents.
The paramount chief of Sirigu Traditional Area, Naba Roland Akwara Atogumdeya III, used the occasion to thank the Akufo-Addo government for the introduction of social intervention policies such as the Free SHS and Planting for Food and Jobs, which, according to him, are transforming lives in the Sirigu community and the country as a whole.
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