The decision of former President Nana Akufo-Addo to authorize the spending of an amount of $58 million on a National Cathedral project that was never completed, the sheer arrogance of power and the decision of government to increase the cost of fuel at a time that was less than 72 hours to General Elections contributed to the defeat of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the December 2024 elections, Vice President Mahamadu Bawumia has noted in public.
Dr. Bawumia, the 2024 presidential candidate of the NPP made the remarks during his ‘Thank You’ tour of the Western Region on Sunday in a speech that openly acknowledged the factors he believes were behind the Party’s electoral defeat.
“Three days to the Elections, we had gone to increase the cost of fuel. When I heard it, I thought it was a lie. Three days to the Election Day, we increased the price of fuel; Eiiii did we want to win or we wanted to lose? The drivers were angry! Three days to the day of voting!”, Dr. Bawumia noted in what appeared to be a surprise on his part.
He continued: “The National Cathedral we were not able to complete after $58 million was sunk into it, caused a lot of public anger against the party”
Dr. Bawumia explained further: “When you study all the reports we have so far, certain factors were highlighted. These include the high cost of living; the prices of goods and services went up and left many Ghanaians struggling. Another factor that was highlighted is the arrogance of power, we were not willing to listen.
“The Party members told us to conduct a reshuffle, but after eight years we didn’t listen. The party members told us they didn’t want E-levy and that t would create problems , but we implemented it. Again, the Party members told us that the DDEP debt restricting would be problematic if we went ahead and implemented it because most of them are pensioners. The President announced that there would be no haircuts and Ghanaian were happy about that announcement but when the DDEP started, there were haircuts.
“Things were bad, and we were not able to pay NABCO, those employed under youth and afforestation, caterers and others were also not being paid.
“Many regions where we use to have good votes, we did not do much work there. The roads were bad, the Takoradi Market was not completed, Shama Market, yes, so the problems were many and this is just the western Region.
Dr. Bawumia also notched that criticism from within the party done in the full glare of the public was not helpful as it provided ammunition for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to use against the NPP during
“The NDC played back these words by our own members against us through a series of adverts in the media. They used the words against us, and if the attack is coming from your own members, you can imagine the effect,” he said and called for a united front and decen campaign in future elections.
