Radio broadcaster, Stanley Abopam claims Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has been relegated to the background in the Nana Addo government.
According to him, although the Vice President proposes brilliant policy ideas, he has not been given the opportunity to put them into action.
“He is one of the most relegated Vice President in the Fourth Republic. This is the Vice President that the realists within the NPP say that presidential staffers wield more authority than him. So the constitution created the Office of the Vice President and yes, he is there but there’s a fence around him,” he stated on State of Our Nation.
He added that sources close to Dr. Bawumia reveal that elements within and outside the government particularly the president’s relations have usurped the Vice President’s role, brushing off his ideas and having their way in decision-making of the administration.
“I hear that characters like Asante Abediatuo, characters like Gabby Asare Otchere Darko, the Finance Minister and the Road Minister especially those who are the president’s direct relations and other properly situated friends of the president wield more power of influence than him”.
Mr. Abopam cited Dr. Bawumia’s position against taxing mobile money and the eventual decision by the government to impose a levy on such electronic transaction as an indication of his opinions not carrying weight in the government.
“I’m sure you heard the story about this E-levy. What he said, what the Finance Minister said and what happened next. That cannot happen to a Vice President but it happened to him. So at a point, he was a function of the constitution and not the function of a government in governance,” he said.
But for the vice president’s social and intellectual eminence, he would have been dormant and ineffective, he argued.
His remarks come on the heels of preparation by the governing New Patriotic Party to elect President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s successor.
On May 26, 2023, the party opened nominations for interested candidates.
About 10 persons have picked forms to enter the race and are expected to file their nominations by June 24, 2023.
So far, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen who is tipped to be a frontrunner has filed his papers with his likely closer contender, Dr. Bawumia set to file his on Friday, June 16, 2023.
