Beyond the implementation of the Free Senior High School policy and Agenda 111 initiative among other initiatives as President of Ghana, the discovery of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as someone with political potential has been described as President Akufo-Addo’s biggest achievement as a politician.
This view is held by Filson Awankua, Founder of the Rapid Response Unit and Deputy National Organizer for the Northern Zone of a group known as Friends of Bawumia -2008.
He believes that bringing Dr. Bawumia from public service into politics and eventually seeing him mature into the politician he has become is a big achievement by President Akufo-Addo.
At the time then candidate Akufo-Addo named Dr. Bawumia as his running mate in 2008, the now Vice President was not known in the political cycles. This got many, especially within the NPP concerned about the weight he brought to the Akufo-Addo ticket.
After losing two previous elections, Dr. Bawumia became a key part of the NPP’s campaign in 2016 that led to the party’s victory. Before 2016, there were calls for the running mate to be changed but this was a call then candidate Akufo-Addo would not yield to.
President Akufo-Addo would later again win the 2020 election with Vice President Dr. Bawumia being a core part of the campaign.
Going into the 2024 elections, President Akufo-Addo is being hailed for keeping faith with Dr. Bawumia, eventually seeing him becoming the first person of northern extraction to become the New Patriotic Party’s flagbearer.
Speaking Monday on the State of Our Nation, Filson Awankua noted that President Akufo-Addo’s biggest achievement as a politician is the discovery of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
“As a politician, his biggest achievement for me is identifying Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and bringing him from the public service to active politics. That is the biggest achievement of Excellency Akufo-Addo. Apart from that, then you talk of Free SHS, Agenda 111. These are some of his success stories,” he stated.
With just a few months to the elections, Mr. Awankua said that the grounds are fertile for the party and Dr. Bawumia, adding the NPP will win convincingly without a runoff.
“The acceptability level of a politician known as Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia is something that has never happened. It is historic. This election is not going into a second round. It is one touch for Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia,” the RRU Founder stated.
