Opinion: Bawumia has paid his dues; his time is due

The fundamentals of the economy were discussed, though in passing. It hadn’t yet become a talking point in the years that preceded Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s selection as running mate to candidate Akufo Addo in 2008.

Following his nomination, national discourse took on a new direction. And significance. It departed, in part, from trivial and mundane issues, to matters critical to our economy–inflation and interest rate and the cedi had taken a centre stage. This departure did not happen by default. The brainaic Dr Bawumia was the man behind the wheel, driving this change. He held public lectures, calling attention and proffering alternatives to issues that confronted the country during Prez Mills–Mahama reign.

Days wore on and election 2008 was due. NPP lost, but Dr Bawumia had made an impression on Ghanaians that no vice presidential candidate in living memory had ever before made. That is why when time came for candidate Akufo Addo to choose his running mate yet again in 2012, he didn’t go looking for a new face– he settled again on a known quantity, Dr Bawumia

Around this period, Dr Bawumia had become a better version of the running mate he had been in 2008. This did not only become obvious in the election campaign of 2012, but it manifested the more in the top- notch performance he put up during the 2013 petition hearing. He thrilled everybody with crisp, to-the-point, and intelligent answers. Even so, he marched wit against one of the first-rate lawyers in the country, Tsatsu Tsikata.

” What’s past is prologue” said Shakespeare. Election 2008 & 2012 were just the prologue. It had set the stage for victory in 2016. Like the previous elections, Dr Bawumia had become the guiding spirit of the 2016 campaign. After two attempts at winning, the NPP struck it lucky in the 2016 election, winning by 1million votes margin.

As with everything, Dr Bawumia didn’t have it smooth while staying the course till victory in 2016. Candidate Akufo Addo had wrecked havoc on NDC’s fortunes, but it was nothing compared to what DMB did. So when NDC found no one to match wit against their nemesis, Dr Bawumia, they sicced their attack dogs on him. They called him a liar and other unprintable words. Like a statue, Dr Bawumia was impervious to the attacks, for the attacks did not subdue him.

By Jabir Gbambegu

Source: Daily Mail GH

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