Unlike former president and the NDC presidential candidate, John Mahama who disregarded the voices of his party grassroot to choose a fresh face and youthful vice-presidential candidate from the party’s stronghold, the vice president and the NPP presidential candidate has proved that the words of his party grassroots and the diaspora is his bound.
Dr. Bawumia has chosen the man by the people, of the people, with the people and for the people to be his vice-presidential candidate. Bawumia is simply different. Bawumia is simply the next chapter. The Bawumia phenomenon is a paradigm shift.
A few months after the NPP presidential primaries, NPP-affiliated think tank and political charity called Diaspora Patriotic Forum (DPF) conducted one of the very first surveys about the NPP vice-presidential selection. The online survey which was followed by telephone calls sought the opinion of Ghanaians in the diaspora and the party’s grassroot members in Ghana.
According to the DPF, the neglect of the party grassroots and party members in the diaspora in making important party and governance decisions became a huge issue and indeed became a deciding factor among delegates leading to the presidential primaries. Therefore, DPF wanted to conduct the opinion poll on the vice-presidential choice whilst those issues were still fresh in the minds of the party members in the diaspora and among the grassroots.
Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, popularly known as NAPO, the Minister for Energy and MP for Manhyia South, emerged as the clear choice of the people, receiving 42.42% of the vote. Following DPF’s opinion polls, several other surveys indicated that NAPO is the obvious preference of the party people. After a broad consultation, in-depth discussion with party faithfuls and opinion leaders, Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia has proved again that his kind of politics is a paradigm shift.
He would be a true representation of a man by the people, of the people, with the people and for the people. The people’s wishes would be his bound and he will never impose his wishes on his party and on his country. He has done it differently from all the presidential candidates Ghanaians have known since the inception of the fourth republic in 1992.
There are always speculations surrounding the choice of vice-presidential candidate, but usually the presidential candidate selects somebody outside the tall list of speculated names and surprises authorities within their parties, party grassroots and Ghanaians as a whole. Dr. Bawumia has just done the opposite.
His choice of NAPO is the choice of grassroots and the diaspora. Bawumia has acted on his people’s wishes. He has also proved that his decisions are fairly based on data.
The empirical evidence revealed by the DPF opinion polls conducted a few months after the NPP presidential primaries, and several others including the latest polls conducted by Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) has been a deciding factor in the selection of NAPO as his running mate.
Bawumia is indeed the next chapter of Ghana and in this chapter the voice of the people shall be the voice of God.
Ebenezer Johnson
Finland
