Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has named Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia as President Akufo-Addo’s successor in-waiting.
It appears the revelation was deliberate and was part of a bigger plan to sell Bawumia in confirmation of widely-held speculations that President Akufo Addo is seeking to perpetuate himself in power by handpicking his successor, Bawumia, who would become his puppet indefinitely.
There are speculations that Ofori-Atta himself, a nephew of President Akufo Addo, is nursing a Presidential ambition and may be picked as a Vice-Presidential candidate if Bawumia is handpicked.
Speaking on the side-lines of Dr. Bawumia’s recent presentation on the economy to the NPP’s tertiary students association, TESCON, the Finance Minister said Dr. Bawumia had acquitted himself very well and shown that he is a man who can lead after Akufo-Addo has left office.
“I think it lays out very distinctly what we have done as a party, and the capacity to take us to the transformation level that we are talking about. I mean it clearly for me also makes it very evident to Ghanaians that we have the type of person who can lead after NANA Akufo-Addo leaves, and it’s reassuring,” Ofori-Atta said.
Bawumia, who in the wake of the economic mess perpetrated by the Akufo-Addo government had stopped commenting about the economy, suddenly addressed the TESCON lecture to highlight Ghana’s economy, even though, barely a fortnight before his lecture, President Akufo Addo had delivered the State of the Nation’s Address (SONA) which was supposed to touch on the economy.
Meanwhile, the lecture did little for Bawumia’s reputation which has been battered as the most dishonest Vice President in Ghana’s recent history. Indeed, Google-the global internet search engine ranks Dr. Bawumia on top search results when asked who the biggest liar in Ghana is.
True to his reputation, Bawumia’s public lecture once more whipped up a slew of intellectual dishonesty in citing Ghana’s economic figures.
Fact-checkers have since been punching holes in his delivery which may not have served to sell him as the de facto Presidential hopeful for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The NPP is set to be engulfed in a bitter power tussle for the 2024 Presidential candidate as Trade Minister, Alan Kwadwo Kyeremanten is believed to be the next in line, having given then-Candidate Akufo Addo a good run for his money in the presidential primaries of the NPP for more than two times.