Cometh the hour…

Afew commitments prevented me from travelling to the University of Professional Studies Accra (UPSA) last Wednesday for the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) flagbearer, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s presentation on his vision for the country. 

The subsequent images and video clips with soundbites firmly convinced me I had missed out in a big way.

Nothing compares to being on the ground ‘fiili fiili’ and soaking up the vibes. 

Political heat

Of course, as would be expected, Dr Bawumia’s address captured the news headlines and political discussion segments with a frenzy.

After all, even in opposition, he was hogging the headlines whenever he spoke and delivered barbs to the Mahama government of the day, never mind that he is vice-president today and therefore commands headlines. 

Quite understandably, his political opponents latched unto a sneering, withering narrative, that focused on whether Dr Bawumia was a driver’s mate or a co-driver, following the flag bearer’s own brief public transport analogy in situating the role of a vice-president in our political and constitutional framework, rather than the substance of his delivery.

By this, they sought to argue that he was effectively throwing the president under the bus and shirking responsibility for the challenges that this government has faced since its election in 2016.

On the promise to reduce the ministerial team and reverse some taxes such as the e-levy and the emissions tax, they again decry it as a betrayal of President Akufo-Addo, wailing in hypocritical sympathy for the President. 

Bawumia’s case

What then is the evidence?

What exactly did Dr Bawumia say in his 73-page speech that has his critics foaming furiously at the mouth?

After touting the achievements of the Akufo-Addo administration, he referred to the obvious constitutional position and role of the vice-president as set out in Article 60(1) of the constitution, that the Vice-President shall perform such duties as assigned to him by the President or the constitution.

This was the setting for propagating his own vision.

Whether you call him a driver’s mate or spare driver, the fundamental, unarguable fact remains that he is not in the driving seat.

How the setting out of this obvious constitutional and political fact implies a shirking of responsibility from the challenges of the country is rather amusing.

On the things he promised he would do differently, such as taxation, national service, ministerial size and others, some have asked why he cannot do it now.

To insist on this is to ignore Article 60(1) and to pretend that the Vice-President has full executive powers to drive policy, which is incorrect.

This is quite basic, respectfully.

It is the President’s vision that drives his government, and the principle of collective responsibility binds all in Cabinet, whether or not they agree with a particular course of action.

After all, despite the finance minister’s publicly declared reservations about Free SHS in its current form, he remains the person who is responsible for providing the finances to sustain it in its current form because that feeds into the President’s vision for senior high school education in this country, whatever one thinks of it.

Dr Bawumia has his own vision for this country, as I am sure all the contestants in the NPP presidential primaries did and still do.

His vision does not necessarily have to dock squarely into his boss’ vision, and that is what he boldly demonstrated on Wednesday. 

After all, if he had pledged to stick to the status quo if elected, he would have been rightly pilloried for offering nothing new and imaginative.

 I like his bold, independent vision that spoke of a new direction within the context of the NPP’s core beliefs and past achievements, and I think it spoke symbolic volumes that his boss the President was not in the auditorium when he spoke.

Of course, the particular policy areas he set out are all valid fodder for political debate and utmost, microscopic scrutiny to ensure that they are workable and meaningful, and not just some cheap confetti thrown at us to excite us.

As we inch towards the elections, I expect sharp, meaningful public debates on what candidates are proffering, whether on digitalisation or a 24-hour economy, and not name-calling, gratuitous personal insults, religious or ethnic invectives.
 

AFCON results, local propaganda

Congratulations to the Elephants of La Cote d’Ivoire for beating Nigeria to win AFCON 2023.

I was dreading the noise my Nigerian friends would send my way if they had lifted the cup.

On a lighter note, if Nigeria had won, this would have been excellent political ammunition for my many NDC friends, given that an eagle sits atop the NDC symbol, the NPP’s symbol is an elephant and the Ivorian team was led by their assistant coach (a.k.a driver’s mate) who stepped up after the departure of the substantive coach.

With the Nigerian and NDC propaganda machines effectively dismantled, I am currently enjoying absolute peace of mind. 

Rodney Nkrumah-Boateng.

Head, Communications & Public Affairs Unit,
Ministry of Energy.

E-mail: rodboat@yahoo.com