Vice President Bawumia
A former chairman of the National Democratic Congress in the Central Region, Bernard Allotey Jacobs, has observed that Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia is raising the bar for the opposition party as it prepares to select its running mate for the 2020 general election.
It has been almost a year since the NDC re-elected John Mahama as its flagbearer. However, the party has not been able to nominate its running mate, barely 10 months into the general election.
Many political pundits have stated that the continuous delay in the nomination of a running mate can hurt the opposition party.
Vacuum in conversation
Others have argued that the party’s inability to nominate a running mate can be attributed to the “Bawumia factor”. They believe the Vice-President’s style of politicking and understanding of economic issues demand that the opposition party gets someone of similar pedigree.
Allotey believes it is even becoming more difficult for his party with each passing day following the impressive manner in which the Vice-President conducts himself in the political space.
“The greatest problem my party is facing is that, up till now, we have not nominated our running mate…so Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia is raising the bar, he is really raising the bar and it will go to the extent that we would have to get someone with his pedigree to interface with him,” he said in a radio discussion.
Done deal for NPP?
Mr Allotey, who was commenting on the government’s Townhall meeting held in Kumasi, stated that Dr Bawumia has been occupying over 75 per cent of the political space since the governing NPP took over power.
He added that if the NDC is unable to nominate its running mate by April, the 2020 general election will be a forgone conclusion for the NPP.
“You see, he has in a way roughly driven into our political space. Right now, from 2017 till now, he is occupying almost two-thirds of our political space because we popularise him by criticising him every day. The more you mention him, the more he resonates with the people and that’s the mistake,” said Allotey Jacobs.
Communicator extraordinaire
Mr Allotey stated that the Vice-President has digitalised political communication in the country to the extent that he is capable of separating propaganda from facts.
He wonders who in the NDC can punch holes into the presentation of Vice- President Bawumia.
He advised his party to make people with the right pedigree respond to Dr Bawumia, rather than allowing party communicators to respond to him.
“Monkeys play by sizes. We need someone who can match him…Left to me alone, if Vice-President Bawumia speaks, I am begging my NDC communicators, I would be insulted for this but the fact is, we have to get someone who can stand up to Dr Bawumia. Election year, he has done it again; for the whole two weeks, it’s all going to be Bawumia,” he said.
