Ghana’s first Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, has weighed in on Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia’s presidential ambitions in a recent statement.
Mr Amidu’s three-page letter, dated February 15, 2024, addresses Bawumia‘s ‘Vision for Ghana’ speech delivered on February 7 at the UPSA auditorium.
After carefully analyzing the speech, Amidu concluded that Bawumia’s vision lacks originality and is merely a replication of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s rhetoric.
He criticized Bawumia for failing to present a distinct vision, suggesting that it mirrors Akufo-Addo’s strategy to deceive voters in both the 2016 and 2020 elections.
“I have read Bawumia’s vision several times since I had time to do so after delivering my keynote address at the University for Development Studies on 8 February 2024 and he comes out to me like a copycat replica of the style and deceptive persuasiveness deployed by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in winning the 2016 presidential elections,” he wrote.
He added that after winning the elections on both occasions, the Akufo-Addo-led government only reneged “on all the promises he made on taxes, use of natural resources for the benefits of the ordinary Ghanaian, the right of citizens to speak up and not be spectators: and above all the unprecedented unfulfilled plan and leadership commitment to fight corruption.”
Amidu disagreed with political opposition and commentators who suggested that Bawumia had distanced himself from President Akufo-Addo by proposing to scrap certain taxes.
“Bawumia’s vision is a repeat using a decoy to disguise a similar cajoling vision the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia team presented to the Ghanaian electorate at the 2016 elections.
“It is no different in form and substance from the deceptive vision team Akufo-Addo/Bawumia presented even at the 2020 elections when economic situations were exceedingly difficult.
“These visions have always been founded upon promises to ameliorate the harsh tax conditions the private sector and ordinary Ghanaians are facing daily in the marketplace,” he stressed.