Bawumia is forthright and honest. -Akufo-Addo informs students in schools

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said, “I chose Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as my Vice President because of his honesty and frankness.”

Speaking with fourth-graders at the Jubilee House on Thursday, October 26, 2023, President Akufo-Addo said that he chose Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as his vice president because he was a morally upright and knowledgeable individual.

In addition to being a northerner who would provide the necessary north-south balance for a united Ghana, he clarified, Dr. Bawumia was “also a very clever man, and I needed his brains to help me govern the country effectively.”

“He is not one of those guys where you have to assume what they are trying to communicate. He is an honest person who speaks to you honestly. He is direct in what he says, and I want to work with others who are likewise direct in their communication. President Akufo-Addo gave these explanations as to why he selected Dr. Bawumia to be his vice president.

He was responding to inquiries on Thursday from a group of Association International School in Accra’s Grade Four elementary school students who were taking an educational tour of the presidential residence, Jubilee House.

In what can only be described as a grandpa and granddaughter relationship, the children received books as souvenirs from the Presidency, had the opportunity to take individual photos with President Akufo-Addo, and then shared a hearty lunch with the President as a group.

Greetings, Your Excellency. My name is Adwoa, and I would like to know why, of all the candidates, you selected Dr. Bawumia to be your vice president. The query came from Adwoa Boadiwaa.

After fielding a barrage of inquiries about everything from Cabinet operations to governance, President Akufo-Addo remarked, “Oh goodness, those are many many questions.”

Sync

“I think that for the unity of the country, it is good that we have a leadership where northerners and southerners are together so that the country can remain united,” the president said, explaining that he needed someone from the north to provide balance because he, as president, was from the southern part of the nation.

“He hails from the north, and I would like a northern partner for the elections and subsequent governance.” He’s also a highly intelligent man, and I needed his intelligence to support me in running the country well,” he continued.

A critique

“Your Excellency, please, how do you keep calm when people criticize your actions?” was another query.

Speaking on his belief that he had always sought a system of government that allowed presidents and other powerful individuals to be held accountable, President Akufo-Addo remarked, “There was a time in Ghana when it wasn’t like that when one man spoke, and that was that.”

He said that because he didn’t think any one person knew everything, he had never been a fan of that kind of circumstance.

“Having a system where a lot of ideas and smart people come forward is preferable.”

I am not God

In addition, President Akufo-Addo stated that he was in favor of the system that allowed for presidential criticism and that it would be odd for him to “become agitated when people are criticizing me” in that capacity. God is not me. No, I can’t be. We all try our hardest, but none of us are.

He indicated that “it opens up different perspectives” when he said that criticism was a positive thing that occasionally allowed the decision-maker to see things that he was not seeing.

“A lot of times you can disagree with your critics,” stated President Akufo-Addo. However, there are instances when criticism has value and application that you can utilize to accomplish [something], which is why I don’t become upset about it.

But he said, “It is also my right to ignore their criticism if I think that there is no substance in it,” once it was the critics’ right to do so. That is our current system.

About Author