You are dishonest and mischievous – UG Don to persons backing Bawumia's defence that he was 'just' a VP

A senior lecturer at the University of Ghana, Prof Kobby Mensah, has taken a swipe at persons backing Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia's suggestion that his role in the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government was only to assist the president.

According to him, Dr Bawumia, before he became vice president, criticised his predecessor, the late Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, and questioned his competence as head of the Economic Management Team, a role he holds.

Prof Mensah, who made these remarks in a post he shared on X on Monday, November 13, 2023, added that any person who defends Dr Bawumia, who is now the presidential candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), on these grounds is being deceitful.

“If you accept Bawumia’s argument that VP position is ineffectual in performance of a Govt then you are dishonest, mischievous or intellectually ineffective.

“He (Dr Bawumia) criticised and questioned Amissah Atta’s competence & argued all along as being highly performed VP. What changed?” he quizzed.

Vice President Bawumia, in the lead up to the NPP’s November 4 presidential primaries which he won, touted his contribution to the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government despite being ‘just’ a vice president.

Speaking to NPP delegates in the Upper East Region on October 30, 2023, Dr. Bawumia indicated that despite being the vice president, whose role is mainly to assist the president, he is the brain behind some of the major policies of the government.

“I’m a vice president; I’m not yet a president. By the grace of God, you would make me a president, but I’m a vice president, and you know that the work of the vice president is like that of an assistant headmaster, isn’t it?

“That is the nature of my work, but if you ask me, Dr. Bawumia, since you became vice president, what policy have you brought to bear on government that we can use to remember you by?” he quizzed.

He went on to list some of the major policies he championed under the Akufo-Addo government, as follows:

“I will tell you that we brought the GhanaCard, no grantor student loan, Digital Address System, Mobile Money Interoperability, One Constituency, One Ambulance (1C1A), Agenda 111, Zongo Development Fund, and NHIS Digitalization—today you can use your mobile phone to renew your National Health Insurance card.”

He added, “We have brought Zipline drones to deliver medicines; we have brought Gold for Oil; we have brought paperless port; we have brought E-currency; we have brought ghana.gov..."

If you accept Bawumia’s argument that VP position is ineffectual in performance of a Govt then you are dishonest, mischievous or intellectually ineffective. He criticised and questioned Amissah Atta’s competence & argued all along as being highly performed VP. What changed?

— Prof. Kobby Mensah (@thePOE_T) November 13, 2023