SHUN SELF-SEEKING POLITICIANS — BAWUMIA

DR Mahamudu Bawumia, the running mate of the presidential aspirant of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has appealed to Ghanaians to shun self-seeking politicians who preach tribalism and hatred as part of their political strategy to win the December elections.
That, he said, would prevent the destruction of the unity and peaceful co-existence that had been experienced in the country for many years.
“As Ghanaians, regardless of our political leanings, we must always guard against divisive politics that aims at destroying our common sense of one people with one country”, he stated.
Dr Bawumia, who made the appeal at separate campaign rallies, stated that “politics is all about the sharing of ideas and exercising of our free will and not about violence and tribal hatred”.
The running mate who is on a four-day tour of the Eastern Region, was speaking during separate rallies at Adeiso, Kade, Asamankese, Akwatia and Adoagyiri.
Dr Bawumia also visited the various Zongo communities and market women and was accompanied by other executive of the party including Mr Saddique Abubakar, Minister of Water Resource, Works and Housing; Mr John Boadu, National Youth Organiser; Mr Yaw Gyekye Amoabeng, Eastern Regional Chairman, and Alhaji Inussah Grusah, Chief Executive Officer of King Faisal Football Club.
In reference to the 2000 and 2004 elections, Dr Bawumia stated that some political parties strongly capitalised on people’s diverse tribal backgrounds to incite some people against other political parties.
That divisive political strategy, he noted, was used to negatively create the impression that on voting for the NPP, certain tribes would be “sacked and sent to their various places of origin since they are not regarded as Ghanaians.
“However, contrary to such negative tribalistic sentiments, when the NPP assumed the administration of the country, no group of people or tribe was ever sacked and sent to their supposed places of origin”, he emphasised.
“Ever since, we have all continued to live and be at peace with each other as Ghanaians”, he stated.
On the economy, the NPP running mate indicated that although the party inherited a weakened economy, good economic policies and management by the NPP had placed it on a robust foundation.
“While Ghana had a GDP of $3 billion after 47 years of independence, its current GDP is $16 billion. This achievement is not by chance but as an outcome of good economic management under President Kufuor’s administration”, he explained.
On education, he pointed out that high rate of illiteracy had remained the bane of the country’s rapid socio-economic development, contrary to the high literacy rate in other nations such as Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea, which were at par with Ghana after its independence.
“Since education remains indispensable to our development, the NPP government, under Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, would aim at making education at the second cycle also free as done at the basic level under President Kufuor’s administration.
He highlighted the various initiatives aimed at making education more accessible to every Ghanaian child, under President Kufuor’s administration, as including the Capitation Grant, free bus rides for schoolchildren, the School Feeding Programme being implemented on a pilot basis in two schools per district and added: “We will also extend this to all public schools under President Akufo-Addo”.
On health, Dr Bawumia mentioned the introduction of the National Health Insurance and free health care for pregnant women as replacement for the defunct cash-and-carry system, which made healthcare delivery inaccessible to the poor.
Other speakers, including Messrs Saddique and Boadu as well as Alhaji Grusah appealed to Ghanaians to assess the good works of the NPP government over the past seven-and-a-half years as against that of the National Democratic Congress, before casting their votes in December.