The announcement by Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, that he will scrap three controversial taxes introduced by the current government has led to talk of an attempt to distance himself from the unpalatable record of this government.
Whereas opposition voices have emphasized that position, members of the ruling party insist that ultimate responsibility for any successes or failures in government rests on the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
A video has since started circulating among opposition activists of the president warning against any thrashing of the record of his government.
The video according to GhanaWeb checks was taken at the Jubilee House when Akufo-Addo hosted senior party officials ahead of the presidential primaries in November 2023.
“I don’t know what we gain by attacking the record of our own government. When you do that and you become the party candidate, what are you going to tell the people of Ghana?” he submitted.
“That it was Akufo-Addo who misled you and mismanaged affairs, I will be different even though I am NPP, I am still under the elephant sign, I am different and (you think) the people of Ghana are that gullible?
“Let’s be serious. When we are talking about the record of the government…whoever you are, it is your responsibility to ensure that the people of Ghana buy into that record,” he stressed before adding that after the primaries, it is the record of his government that will form the basis of the NPP’s campaign.
Mahamudu Bawumia emerged winner of the primary and is now the 2024 presidential candidate of the party. His main competitor in the 2024 polls will be former president John Dramani Mahama of the NDC.
Bawumia in his first major speech as flagbearer announced a bid to scrap three tax handles, E-Levy, Betting Tax and Emissions Levy; if they are still on the books come 2025 and he is elected president.
