NPP will not abandon Volta – Bawumia

The vice presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has reiterated that his party will not abandon any of the country’s ten regions when it assumes power in 2017.

According to him, it would be wrong for any forward looking and development- oriented country to abandon a section of its people.

He said, “We have only one Ghana and so whether the NPP gets votes in the Volta Region or not the national cake will be shared equally.”

He stressed, “We are trying to build a globally competitive economy. We are a team and cannot ignore anyone.”

Dr Bawumia added that “Ghana is one team made up of 10 players (10 regions),” hence every player has a role to play in making the Ghana team successful.

“Ghana cannot succeed if you take Volta Region out or any other region for that matter,” he emphasised.

The Volta Region is the stronghold of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC). In the 2012 elections the NPP lost the only parliamentary seat it had in the region to the NDC.

That notwithstanding, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia in an interview with Ho-based Volta Premier Fm, noted that the NPP loves Ghana and is ready to serve Ghanaians, including members of the NDC. He said the NPP has a track record to show that it is a party that cares for all Ghanaians, irrespective of their backgrounds and locations.

He explained that the NPP, before it left office in 2008, had instituted many policies and programmes to show that it is a party that cares for all Ghanaians.

“When we put in the National Health Insurance Scheme it wasn’t for a particular region; when we come in and restore the teachers’ training allowances it will be for everybody,” he stressed.

He added that the capitation grant, Metro Mass Transit, Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), among other interventions, were programmes that served every Ghanaian fairly and not the stronghold of the NPP alone.

He was only disappointed that the governing NDC, instead of improving these programmes, had rather mismanaged them and left them collapsing thereby putting unnecessary strain on the ordinary Ghanaian, including its strong hold; the Volta Region.

Inroads

Bawumia, former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, was hopeful that things would greatly improve in 2016 when the NPP was voted into power.

He revealed that the NPP had made the Volta a priority region and so had put in several measures to ensure that the party makes inroads in 2016.