Africa News Broadcast 
Ghana’s VP Mahamudu Bawumia stands on the verge of history at the presidential primaries of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) on 4 November.
A win for Bawumia changes a lot of dynamics within the NPP. That will make him the first non-Akan speaking presidential candidate of the party. He also becomes the first northerner and Muslim to lead the centre-right and liberal-conservative party in a major election.
Bawumia, 59, crossed the first hurdle to succeed his political godfather President Nana Akufo-Addo with a landslide victory (68% of valid votes cast) on 26 August when the party whittled down the number of presidential hopefuls from 10 to five.
He is now contesting maverick lawmaker Kennedy Agyapong, ex-agriculture minister Owusu Afriyie Akoto and Francis Addai-Nimoh, a former MP after serial contender and frontrunner Alan Kyerematen, also a former minister of trade, pulled out of the race.
The ex-deputy governor of the central bank, who has been instrumental in pushing the government’s digitalisation drive, believes he is the suitable candidate to face former president John Mahama, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate in the 2024 elections.
“If I contest… that will mean that all the strongholds of the NDC will be shaken. This accounts for their fear of Bawumia because they fully appreciate that if I am the candidate for the NPP, I will give them [NDC] a showdown,†Bawumia said while campaigning in the opposition stronghold in the Oti Region on 8 September.
Bawumia is relying on over 200,000 delegates to give him the nod, but in this final lap, the four-time running mate of the NPP is also leaning on his inner circle and those loyal to him to make history as the first vice-president to have crossed two terms with a president and then take over as Ghana’s head of state.
Samira Bawumia, the second lady, is the fulcrum of her husband’s campaign. She has taken a backseat in the internal elections but behind the scenes, the passionate advocate for women’s rights serves as a rich source of counsel to her husband. Samira took on a leading role in the 2016 elections that brought the NPP to power. She serves as the link between women groups, especially those in northern Ghana and her husband’s campaign team.
At 43, the graduate of University of London, UK with a Bachelor’s degree in Law, is empowering the under-privileged, championing child education and gender parity, through her foundation Samira Empowerment and Humanitarian Projects.
The head of Bawumia’s campaign team is Fred Oware. He talks less, but is very active on the ground. It is believed that Oware serves as the link between the vice-president (a Muslim) and the numerous Christian leaders he has courted as his friends. Oware, who used to own a powerful political radio station in Ghana – Choice FM — is the campaign manager of Bawumia.
The business magnate and philanthropist is one of the bankrollers of Bawumia’s campaign and the party in general. Oware first became the CEO of Bui Power Authority (BPA) — the administrative body of the Bui Dam, which is Ghana’s third hydroelectric power generation plant and also second largest. With a background in finance, he worked with Merchant Bank for a considerable period. He was the NPP’s former first national vice chairman.
Another heavyweight on the campaign train is a former MPÂ Nana Akomea, who currently heads state transport company STC. He is a trained journalist, advertiser and communication expert. He occupied the office of director of communications of the NPP in 2011 and also served as a minister in the previous John Kufuor administration.
Sammi Awuku is Bawumia’s go-to person when it comes to rallying grassroot support. He is loved by the rank and file of the party, especially the youth. He has served the party as the national youth organiser prior to the 2016 victory and then transitioned into the national organiser position in 2018.
He was a member of the party’s campaign strategy team that secured a second-term victory for President Nana Akufo-Addo. Awuku is currently the director general of the National Lotteries Authority. He was a three-term vice chairman of the International Young Democrats Union (IYDU), a prominent platform for identifying youthful yet prominent political figures around the world.
Another young and vibrant member of the campaign team is Dennis Edward Aboagye – popularly known as ‘Miracles’. He is a presidential staffer with special responsibilities for local government, decentralisation and rural development. He is a chartered marketer.
He has over 10 years of experience within the sales and marketing industry with exposure in fast-moving consumer goods and financial services. ‘Miracles’ Aboagye has risen through the ranks of the NPP, going from polling station youth organiser to polling station chairman, through to constituency youth organiser among others.
Also on the team is 44-year-old Anthony Abayifaa Karbo. He was a one-term MP and a deputy minister of roads and highways in Akufo-Addo’s first term. Karbo served as Bawumia’s campaign coordinator when he was the running mate in 2008. After serving as a member of the party’s communications team, he was later elected as the national youth organiser in 2010.
Frederick Opare Ansah has served as a lawmaker on the ticket of the NPP for 16 consecutive years. The engineer by profession is playing a key role in getting MPs to back the economist to lead the party. He served as a chief whip in Parliament. Ansah served as a deputy communications minister in the era of president Kufuor. His hopes of becoming the general secretary of the NPP in 2022 were dashed when he lost the election.
Alolo Mutaka is a typical academic resource now making an impact through politics and leadership. Alolo, as he is popularly known, is a technical advisor to Bawumia. He is the director of special projects and investor relations at the Office of the President. Some of the projects he handled includes the national digital property addressing system, the Sinohydro barter arrangement, Agenda 111 and gold for oil programme.
Another dominant force in the campaign team is Gideon Boako. He is a financial economist with years of experience in academia, public policy formulations, and governmental and non-governmental consultancies. Currently, he serves as the spokesperson and technical advisor to the vice president.
Gideon has had stints in academia, teaching finance and economics at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, the University of Witwatersrand and at Garden City University College. He is a research fellow at the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) and holds a research associate/fellowship position at the Centre for Global Finance-School of Finance and Management attached to the SOAS University of London.
Akbar Yussif Rohullah Khomeini, a private legal practitioner with Hay and Partners, is a staunch Bawumia believer and has been active on TV and radio touting the capabilities of his boss. He is the political advisor to the vice president and a deputy communications director at the office of the president.
Previously, he served as the NPP deputy director of communications. He recruits volunteers for the campaign in the northern part of the country and has been responsible for the political network of the candidate in the north.
Khomeini has support from Yaw Adomako Baafi, who previously acted as NPP national communications director. As part of the team is young, dynamic and smart researcher Krobea Kwabena Asante, who is the social media eye of the campaign team. He is constantly on social media fact-checking the opposition and firing salvos in defence of his boss. He is also a deputy communications director in the office of the vice president.
Beefing up the communications arm of the campaign is the vociferous and tough-talking Ellen Ama Daaku. She is into marketing, leadership and natural resources management. She lost in her bid to become the national women’s organiser of the NPP in 2022. She is quite passionate about women and children’s rights.
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