With his claim that if Vice President Mahamadu Bawumia wins the 2024 election, Ghana will have its first Zongo First Lady, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stirred up controversy.
Among other things, he stated this at a speech in the Accra suburb of Nima, where he was present for the installation of Mohammed Saini Farl, also known as Nii Futa, as the new paramount chief of Nima.
“If, by the grace of God, Mahamadu Bawumia wins the presidency in December 2024, we will have a Zongo First Lady in Ghana,” Akufo-Addo said.
He discussed his relationship with Nima and the importance of being present at the chief’s coronation.
“Nii Futa has chosen this day to be henceforth known as Nima Day; it is a very important day in my life because it is the birthday of my mother, the 17th of December, and she was a big maghajia of Nima, as you know. I grew up here; I came here when I was 12 years old. Our father moved us here. I don’t think there is any part of this area that I don’t know; I know this area like the back of my hand. I enjoyed some of the happiest days of my youth right here in Nima. So it is important that I be here on such a day because I am one of you. Because I, too, am a Nima boy,” he said to a round of applause from the audience.
The President’s remark has drawn criticism from some Ghanaians, who believe it denigrated the Zongo communities.
The flag-bearer of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) is Bawumia. If he wins the 2024 presidential election, his wife Samira Bawumia will become the country’s first lady.
Ghana will have its first Zongo first lady if Bawumia becomes – Akufo-Addo#StarrNews pic.twitter.com/kdyYqfjCH6
— Starr 103.5 FM (@Starr1035Fm) December 18, 2023
Meanwhile, Nana Akufo-Addo was responding to the “lame duck President” tag put on him recently by the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin.
Speaker Bagbin had also referred to Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu as a “limping man” and said the recent election of Vice President Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia as the 2024 flag-bearer of the New Patriotic Party is what has rendered Nana Akufo-Addo a lame duck.
