The Minority in Parliament has rubbished claims by Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia that he has a vision for Ghana which will transform the economy.
This follows statements made by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential aspirant during the filing of his nomination forms.
Addressing party supporters at the NPP headquarters last Friday, Dr Bawumia stressed that although he has served in various capacities under former President John Agyekum Kufour including being the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana and subsequently as Vice President to Nana Akufo-Addo, he has his own vision for the country.
“I believe that it is time to move Ghana to the next level by building on the foundations we have put in place so far,” he told a cheering crowd.
But the NDC MPs have rubbished this claim.
Addressing journalists in Parliament, Ranking Member on the Finance Committee, Isaac Adongo said it is the Vice President’s policies that are being implemented by the governing New Patriotic Party.
He explained that President Akufo-Addo had asserted that he will be relying on the intellectual capacity of his Vice President since he is an economist and therefore, the current ditch the country finds itself in should be blamed on Dr Bawumia.
“I am wondering what vision he has other than what he and his boss, Nana Akufo-Addo contracted with the IMF for the good people of Ghana.
“What is Dr Mahamudu Bawumia going to do that he couldn’t do in this government? It is annoying to hear those who drove a car in perfect shape into a ditch now talking about vision. If you could see your way clearly, do you think you would have driven the car into the ditch?
“If they had a vision, Ghana wouldn’t have sunk this low in the first place. Before we go ahead to evaluate his vision over the past six years, let’s remember that prior to 2017, Nana Addo had told Ghanaians that he was relying on the intellectual capacity of Dr Bawumia to transform Ghana. If now the man is intellectually bankrupt, Akufo-Addo should come and tell us.
“Was Dr Bawumia not the head of the Economic Management Team that created this mess? Which vision is he left with?” he questioned.
Again, Mr. Adongo alleged that the economic policies of the NPP were put together by Dr. Bawumia, hence the failure of these policies is a clear indication that the Vice President has nothing new to offer.
“Check the NPP manifesto for 2016. Do you know the NPP manifesto was crafted from Bawumia’s lectures from 2014 to 2016?
“His lecture notes metamorphosed into the NPP manifesto on the economy and it became the policies that were implemented by this government. So what else do you want?
“Dr Bawumia’s propaganda lectures and experimental notes from 2014 to 2016, metamorphosed into Ghana’s vision and economic policies from 2017 to date and we know what that vision can do. It has ruined our lives,” he stressed.
The MP for Bolgatanga Central used the platform to urge Ghanaians not to buy into the new message being preached by the Vice President since most of the policies he supervised and implemented have rather led to more economic hardship for the people and a return to the IMF for a bailout.
“Moving the economy from taxation to production rather led to the collapse of production and the introduction of 24 new taxes. That is his vision. One village one dam, who proposed it? Was it not implemented?
“Now he has wasted our money on these dams and they can’t even provide water for chicken for two days and they have become death traps and you are still talking about vision.
Dr Bawumia was the one who went out and said they will set up development authorities to transform Ghana, don’t we have Northern Development Authority, don’t we have Middle Belt, don’t we have Coastal, what has happened to all of them?” he concluded.
