Fatimatu Abubakar cites Bawumia’s flawless record as key support reason

Information Minister Fatimatu Abubakar has thrown her weight behind Mahamudu Bawumia, the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) presidential candidate, citing his unblemished record as a primary reason for her support. 

Speaking on Asaase Radio’s The Forum on Saturday (31 August), Abubakar highlighted Bawumia’s integrity, contrasting it with the controversies that have surrounded the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate, John Dramani Mahama.

“A manifesto means nothing when the credibility of those presenting the manifesto are in question,” Abubakar remarked. 

She emphasised that Bawumia, who has served as vice-president since 2017 and previously held key roles at the Bank of Ghana (BoG), has never been implicated in any corruption scandal. “Not once has there ever been an investigation of corruption initiated against him, not even an allegation.”

Abubakar went further, asserting that even the NPP’s fiercest critics have been unable to link Bawumia to corruption. “Even our worst critics and opponents cannot put corruption and Bawumia in the same sentence. They have tested; they know it will not stick.”

In a pointed comparison, the Information Minister drew attention to Mahama’s tenure, referencing past investigations, including the Ford bribery scandal and the Airbus SE corruption case. 

“I cannot make the same case for former president Mahama,” she stated, pointing to multiple instances where Mahama’s administration came under scrutiny.

“I know that Manasseh Azure [Awuni] did an investigation with a Burkinabe contractor [Djibril] Kanazoe; they came up with the Ford bribe issue. I know about the fact that Airbus SE had to pay fines to the tune of over US$4 billion because of admissions and confessions of bribery that they had paid to some officials in several countries. Ghana was mentioned in there because bribes were paid to Ghanaian officials.”

However, Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo, a member of the NDC and fellow panellist on The Forum, challenged Abubakar’s assertions. 

He noted that Mahama has never been formally charged with any wrongdoing and criticised the NPP for what he described as attempts to smear Mahama’s reputation.

“When has this NPP government been able to take him to court on any indictment [or] any charge? Because I am yet to see any charge sheet,” he said. “So when we speak the way we speak sometimes, then I begin to ask myself, ‘Why are we deliberately trying to use underhand tactics to smear the name of somebody?’”

“The Ford issue was investigated by CHRAJ; President Mahama was exonerated. The report is there,” Addo countered. “This Airbus issue, your own appointed special prosecutor (Kissi Agyebeng) has exonerated the former president and yet you want to smear his name in corruption.”

“You see, when you go like that, then we are also forced to respond,” Addo concluded.

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