Akufo-Addo reveals he chose Bawumia because of his honesty

President Akufo-Addo has revealed the key feature of Dr Mahamudu Bawumia that convinced him to make the former Deputy Governor of BoG his running mate. The President raised eyebrows within his party when he chose a seemingly political novice Dr Bawumia as his running mate ahead of the 2008 elections.

As fate would have it, the pair lost the elections to Professor John Evans Atta-Mills and John Dramani Mahama. On their second attempt, they lost again to a Mahama-Amissah Arthur-led NDC in 2012. It was a third time lucky for the duo as they beat Mahama and Amissah Arthur in 2016 and have since retained their role in government till now.

Speaking to students of the Association International School who paid a courtesy call on him at the Jubilee House, the president revealed his reason for choosing Bawumia.

He said, “Of all the people, why did I choose Bawumia as the Vice President, my goodness, that is a lot of questions. I think you are aware [that] in terms of the balance, people from the south, people from the north… 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.”

“He [Bawumia] is from the North and I wanted somebody from the North to partner me for the election and then for the governance. He [Bawumia] is also a clever man and I needed his brains to help me govern the country effectively,” he announced.