A senior lecturer at the University of Ghana (UG), Dr Kwame Asah-Asante, has refuted the assertion that the flagbearer of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, cannot be blamed for the economic challenges in Ghana because he is only the vice president.
According to him, the argument which is mostly made by proponents of the NPP and the government does not make sense, 3news.com report.
He said that the same people who are saying Dr Bawumia cannot for Ghana’s economic woes are quick to praise him for the successes of the government.
“I think it is laughable in the sense that we have heard that anytime there is something worthy of praise relative to policy of the government of the day, quickly they credit the vice president but when there are difficulties, they want to shield the Vice President, that he is not the man in charge.
“That argument is a bogus one that can never be taken seriously by anybody,” Dr Asah-Asante, a political science lecturer, is quoted to have said on TV3’s Ghana Tonight show on November 27, 2023.
Leading members of the NPP, including the Minster for Parliamentary Affairs and Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu and former General Secretary of the NPP, Kwabena Agyepong, have said that Dr Bawumia cannot be blamed for the current economic mess because he (the vice president) is not the final decision maker in the government.
Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the Member of Parliament for Suame, is reported to have said in an interview with TV3 that Dr Bawumia only plays advisory roles, and the buck stops with the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
“The management of the economy is at the behest of the person who wields executive power, the Vice President is only to advise the boss, the buck stops with the boss,” he said.
Some Ghanaians, however, argue that the vice president is responsible for the current economic mess as head of Ghana’s Economic Management Team and also because President Akufo-Addo stated categorically that he made Dr Bawumia his running mate because of his economic prowess.
Source: ghanaweb.com
