Bawumia followed orders and cannot be held responsible for Akufo-Addo’s mistakes – Salia

Saka Salia, a member of the New Patriotic Party’s communications team, argues that the presidency’s decisions and failures are not solely the responsibility of Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawunia.

He argued that when you examine the governance process of Ghana, you will realise that, as the Vice President, you are not the man in charge.

He said “We have the final authority, which is the president, and you will remember that before we went to the International Monetary Fund, the Finance Minister told us we would not go to the IMF.

"But the President, who we all know to be the final authority, is the one at whom the buck stops. The buck stops at the president. He wields all the power. He says A, and it is. All others follow. So Bawumia is part of those who are following.

"He is the Vice President; he can give advice; the president is the final decision-maker, and that is why you can’t say that because he belongs to the government, he does not have a vision of his own.

"Remember when Prof. Mills came in as president? Several people thought he would be a poodle. Others also said Rawlings was going to control him. But after he took over, he was a man of his own and came with his own vision.
The same with any other Vice President,” he added.

He went on to admit that Ghana is going through an economic crisis, and that is a global phenomenon.

“However, in finding someone to address the economic challenges, we cannot trust former President John Dramani Mahama to address our challenges.

“He left us in difficulties before leaving power. As we are speaking today, if not for COVID-19 and the Russian-Ukraine war, we would not be under IMF control. Even developed nations are living under the devastating effects of COVID-19,” he said in an interview with Rainbowradioonline.com.

When asked why the Vice President cannot implement these policies, he said, “Because of the exigencies of the time, he cannot implement the vision. He is the vice president. He cannot also implement the vision because it is how vision works. If you vote for him, he will implement his vision. His vision is different from Nana Addo’s vision, even though he is the Vice President. He is only helping to ensure that he carries Nana Addo’s vision through, and after that, he will pursue his own vision. So he is helping Nana Addo to achieve Nana Addo’s dominance. But he is coming out today to outline his own vision.”

He concluded by saying the two have visions that are distinct from each other, and so one cannot say that because he is the vice president, the two have the same vision.