Presidential staffer, Miracles Aboagye, has opposed views claiming that Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia is distancing himself from the current NPP administration due to the current challenges with the economy.
National Communications Officer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, has raised concerns over Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s attempts to distance himself from certain government policies.
In his view, both President Akufo-Addo and the vice president should be held accountable for the current challenges facing the country.
“How can Kabiru in one breath say that Bawumia was a mere agent and hence can not take liability or blame for the failures of Principal, yet in another breath they give Bawumia credit for the success of the Principal?
“Why is Bawumia being credited for one constituency one ambulance, agenda 111, why? Why is that the case? They are not saying that the credit should go to Akufo-Addo because Bawumia was a mere agent. Hypocrite, that is what they are,” he said on Joy FM’s Top Story on February 8.
Sammy Gyamfi’s remarks come in response to Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s call for Ghanaians to elevate him from the role of a “driver’s mate” to that of a “driver.”
In reaction, Mr Aboagye in a post on X wrote, “No where and at no time has @MBawumia disassociate himself from his government. That assertion only exists on NDC Platforms. Mahama says I wasn’t the Driver but the spare Driver. Bawumia says I am not the Driver but the Mate.”
He also criticised former President John Mahama by comparing him to a spare driver who is essentially idle and inactive.
This comes after an old video featuring former President John Dramani Mahama describing himself as a “spare driver” resurfaced, adding fuel to the ongoing debate sparked by Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia’s analogy of being a “driver’s mate” in the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government.
Dr Bawumia, in a recent statement on his plans for Ghana as a presidential candidate, likened his role as vice president to that of a driver’s mate but emphasized that if elected President in 2024, he would be in the driver’s seat with constitutionally mandated authority.
The emergence of the old video has intensified the debate, with both Mahama and Bawumia being presidential candidates for the 2024 elections. Critics argue that Bawumia’s analogy was an attempt to distance himself from the failures of the current government, while Mahama’s supporters contend that Mahama took responsibility for his role in the Mills-led government.
In the 2012 video taken during a presidential debate organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Mahama, who succeeded late President John Atta Mills, urged Ghanaians to vote him as president for his second and final term, portraying himself as the “spare driver” completing Mills’ unexpired term.
“The NDC government has done a lot in four years. Our constitution gives our president two terms, take it that I am the spare driver, caretaker or whatever; Prof. Mills of blessed memory started the process, and I am finishing his unexpired term. I believe that the NDC government deserves a second term to be able to build on the foundation it has laid in these four years, and I am certain that Ghanaians would vote for me and turn me from the spare driver that I’ve been described as, into the actual driver of the bus leading us into the destination that we want to go to,” he stated.
In reaction, Mr Aboagye in a post on X wrote, “A spare driver is that back up driver who does nothing but whose role is only to wait for the moment the driver is indisposed/unavailable then he can take the driver’s place. This understanding is basic and doesn’t need further explanation.
“A Drivers mate cannot drive the car for the journey. Like we experience in our Ghanaian setting, the best the mate can do in terms of touching the steering wheel is to park it well or take it to the washing bay close by.”
He noted that Mahama has corroborated the surmise that the Vice President role is not as effective as being assumed.
“Clearly, Mahama supports the constitutional view that, the Vice President’s is never the Driver. Mahama has just been caught in the usual double standards and that explains your plenty twists. But we understand , we don’t need your explanation.”