NPP toasts Bawumia

The Walewale home of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has suddenly become a tourist destination after he assumed the role of star witness in the ongoing election petition before the Supreme Court.

The family house located at Kperiga in the West Mamprusi District of the Northern Region continued to be inundated by visitors from the southern part of the country, especially supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

In the last couple of weeks, several people, including leading members of the party from Kumasi and elsewhere, have visited the 73-year-old Mother of the astute economist, Hajia Mariama Bawumia to congratulate her for bringing forth Dr Bawumia, whom most of them considered to be a blessing to mother Ghana.

Lariba Abudu, a cousin of Dr. Bawumia who spoke to DAILY GUIDE expressed shock at the number of people who continued to pour into the Kperiga residence with goodwill messages to the mother of the 49-year-old economist who is also a former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana.

According to her, they initially thought some of the visitors were mere passersby only to be told that they specifically embarked on the trip to appreciate the womb that brought forth the NPP running mate in the 2012 general elections.

Key Witness

Dr Mahamudu Bawumia who is the key witness of the election petition pending before the Supreme Court has won the hearts of many people especially NPP supporters of the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo and Central regions.

Many of them, who have never had the opportunity to meet him, seemed overwhelmed by the fact that he had proven himself worthy of being an icon of the party, judging from his composure and responses on the televised election petition.

Dr Bawumia and his two other colleagues, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the 2012 presidential candidate of the NPP and Jake Otanka Obetsebi Lamptey who is chairman of the party has raised issues with the outcome of the election.

They believe the elections were fraught with serious anomalies and are confident that the NPP would emerge victorious at the close of the day when the Supreme Court decides on the case.

Supporters of the party appreciated the level of intelligence exhibited by Dr Bawumia in answering most of the questions put to him during cross-examination by counsels for respondents in the case.

This, according to most of the party faithful who thronged his family house, was part of reasons they have decided to pay homage to his mother.

Obvious choice

Pundits are already talking about him as a suitable replacement for the party’s 2012 Presidential Candidate Nana Addo Dankwa-Akufo Addo, should he (Akufo-Addo) succeed in ruling for two terms and fade out if the NPP won the Supreme Court case.

A former Member of Parliament (MP) for Asikuma Odoben Brakwa, Paul Collins Appiah Ofori, who was pushing this agenda, insisted the economist had what it takes to lead the NPP into several victories.

Though the former MP was a lead critic who heavily descended on Dr. Bawumia when he was chosen as a running mate for the party in the 2012 elections, he found reason to turn around giving the present trend of affairs and told Accra based XYZ FM he would be the obvious choice for the party if Nana Addo decided not to contest again.

“If the petition goes in our favour and Akufo-Addo becomes the head of state, after serving his two terms, Dr. Bawumia becomes automatic presidential candidate for NPP,” he said.

According to him, Dr. Bawumia has proven himself worthy of being the party’s flagbearer due to his role in the ongoing election petition.

Other members of the party who shared his view believed it would help demystify the perception that the NPP is an Akan party; a major campaign tool that was and is still being used by the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

During the 2012 general elections, Dr. Bawumia was very instrumental in the NPP winning 10 parliamentary seats from the initial three in the Northern Region, which the NDC had tagged a no go area.

This was among the reasons Mr. Appiah-Ofori said Dr. Bawumia should be considered above other former presidential aspirants of the party including Alan Kwadwo Kyeremanten, insisting that “so far Dr. Bawumia has performed really well and if given the chance, he will perform well as the president”.