Source: newsthemegh.com
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia urged party members to rally behind ‘Team Bawumia’ by casting a sizable majority of their votes for him at the party’s congress in November, claiming he was the only candidate the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) feared to see on the presidential ballot.
Additionally, he urged delegates to reject the idea that the party was tribal and support him heavily in order to “Break the 8” in 2024.
“I am the third person from the North to contest the presidential primary of the party and the support is across the sixteen regions with everyone supporting Dr Bawumia, because I have what it takes to win the 2024 elections,” he said.
“We in the NPP are trying to do something that has never happened. We are breaking the Eight. When the party opened the nomination, I picked the form so I could break the eight for the New Patriotic Party,” he added.
Speaking to party members in Tumu before of the polls on November 4, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia stated there was a good reason to pick him as the party’s leader because he had won all 16 regions in the Super Delegates Congress.
“If you look at our party and the antecedents and how we have been maligned, our opponents tell people that we vote on tribal lines.
On November 4, 2023, we shall send a signal to show them we are not a tribalistic party by sending a message that we are a national party,” Dr Bawumia said.
“History tells us that the party doesn’t engage in tribal politics when we are electing leaders, as we are made up of different political groupings from different parts of the country.
“The National Liberation Movement from Ashanti, the Northern People’s Party from the North, the Anlo Youth Congress, the Ga People, and the Muslim Association Party came together to form the United Party, which is now the NPP and that’s our antecedents,” he added.
The Northern People’s Party gained 12 seats in the 1954 elections, compared to Busia’s party gaining just one seat, the vice president emphasized.
He claimed that despite being the largest opposition group, the Northern People’s Party handed control of the opposition to Professor Kofi Abrefa Busia, proving that the NPP did not select its leaders along ethnic lines.
He claimed that in recent history, Alhaji Malik Alhassan Yakubu, a challenger to former President John A. Kufuor, was the first candidate from the North to run for the NPP, but the people of the North chose Kufuor because the party preferred the man who could win elections.
“That showed that the North did not vote for Alhaji Malik Alhassan Yakubu and that showed the North was not tribalistic,” he stressed.
Alhaji Aliu Mahama, of blessed memory, ran against Nana Akufo-Addo during that time, which demonstrated how the North voted for Nana Akufo-Addo and further demonstrated why the party does not regularly vote on a tribal basis, according to Dr. Bawumia.
He claimed that because the Ashanti do not vote along tribal lines, their situation was similar to that of the North and went on to say that when Adu Boahen ran for office, the Ashanti region voted for him from the Eastern area rather than Kufuor, who is an Ashanti.
Vice President Bawumia claimed that of the candidates running right now, he was the most qualified because he had run for president four times and had received good marketing.
“I know the crowd and the ground, the party has marketed me across the country, and I know how to beat my opponent,” he said.
To address the issue of the division between the government and party, Dr. Bawumia promised to make 10 appointments in each constituency and twenty in each area.
He promised to create a database on the requirements of the party members while also making the appointed individuals, particularly those who work in state institutions, the Godfathers and Godmothers of the constituency.