As the December 7, 2024, general elections approach, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, also the NPP’s flagbearer, has drawn significant online attention with his recent comments about the polls.
On Saturday, July 13, 2024, while addressing a gathering in Nanung, a community in northern Ghana, Bawumia urged Ghanaians to vote for him to become president. He added that if he fails to meet their expectations, they can reject him when he seeks a second term.
“I am the Vice President; I’ve not been president yet and I want to plead with you. I am going to the contest with my senior, John Mahama; he has been president before, and when he comes, he has only four years.
“When I come, I have eight years, so, if you look at the presidency, do we want four years or eight? After four years, he won’t come but I will come for renewal, so please give me the chance so that I can be accountable,” he is reported to have said.
However, this is not the first time such words have been spoken. To remind Ghanaians of a similar moment, an old Facebook post by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, made when he was the NPP’s flagbearer, quickly resurfaced online.
The post, dated February 22, 2016, reads: “This year, try me too. Give me the chance to show you what I can do. Four years is not so far away. If I come and I don’t succeed, kick me out. God knows my heart and I can assure you that I won’t disappoint you. Progress and prosperity are what I am offering the people of Ghana.”
Akufo-Addo made these remarks while addressing a group of Muslim clerics and chiefs from settler communities in Derma, located in the Tano South Constituency of the Brong Ahafo Region.
