‘Bawumia has not shifted blame’ – Nana Akomea replies Palgrave Boakye-Danquah

Former Deputy Chairman of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s campaign team, Nana Akomea has taken a swipe at a former Government Spokesperson, Dr Palgrave Boakye-Danquah over his criticism of the former Vice President of Ghana.

Dr Palgrave Boakye-Danquah, former Government Spokesperson on Governance and Security under the Akufo-Addo administration, in an open letter, condemned Dr Bawumia for what, to him, is his attempt to disassociate himself from policies by the previous government such as the E-levy and the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) among others that led to the New Patriotic Party’s defeat in the 2024 elections.

Dr Boakye-Danquah, who is now in the camp of former presidential aspirant, Kennedy Agyapong, reprimanded Dr Bawumia saying “Bawumia’s claim that he opposed the E-levy, a highly controversial tax policy, is inconsistent with his silence during its introduction and passage, despite public outcry and its significant impact on Ghanaians”. 

He added, “As Vice President, he had a platform to voice dissent or influence policy but chose not to, only to later claim opposition when it suited his political ambitions.”

“Bawumia’s failure to publicly address or mitigate the DDEP’s impact, while now implying he was not fully responsible, reeks of opportunism and undermines the administration’s collective accountability.”

Responding to these blistering attacks on the former veep, Nana Akomea, in a statement sighted by GhanaWeb, was utterly amazed that the former government spokesperson could purport such things against Dr. Bawumia.

He, therefore, sought to clarify issues while deflating Palgrave Boakye-Danquah’s argument.

He explained that nowhere during Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s ongoing “Thank You” tour has he shifted blame for the NPP’s 2024 election defeat.

“My surprise is borne by the fact that Dr. Bawumia did no such thing in his interactions with party folks in the ongoing Thank You tour”, he replied, adding that Dr Bawumia’s comments during his tour were premised on the Mike Oquaye’s report which looked into the causes of the party’s defeat.

He noted that, prior to the Oquaye’s committee report, there was the notion that the party lost the elections due to Dr Bawumia’s religious affiliation but the report has dismissed such arguments.

“There have been speculations that the loss was attributable to Dr Bawumia’s Moslem religion, not finding favour with Christian voters. The reasons given by party supporters for staying away from the 2024 polls, as reported by the Ocquaye committee, did not include the Moslem factor in any considerable degree.

Indeed the reasons given by supporters for staying away included governance issues such as the the economic situation, perceived arrogance on the part of government appointees, the Electronic Levy, the high cost of living, the Domestic Devt Exchange Programme, Non reshuffle of appointees, the National cathedral, increment in fuel prices days to the elections, Inadequacies in thd Npp’s electoral processes etc, etc,” he wrote.

He wondered how any of these comments by Bawumia could be interpreted to mean he is shifting blame from himself.

“Dr Bawumia, after acknowledging these difficulties as reported by the same party people to the Ocquaye committee, proceeds to apologise to party people for these given shortcomings. Indeed, the same theme of acknowledgement of the wrongs as reported to the Ocquaye commitee , and apology, was repeated by the Party’s General secretary Justin Kodua and Kennedy Adjepon in their address to the party supporters. Dr. Bawumia said these are what you party people have said about us. We acknowledge them and apologise for them.”

“How does that amount to shifting blame? And to whom did he shift the blame?”, he queried.

Read Nana Akomea’s full statement below:

NANA AKOMEA WRITES:

PALGRAVE BOAKYE DANQUAH, Dr BAWUMIA HAS NOT SHIFTED BLAME

I read with surprise Palgrave Boakye Danquah’s open letter, purporting to admonish Dr. Bawumia not to shift blame for the Npp’s loss in the 2024 elections. My surprise is borne by the fact that Dr. Bawumia did no such thing in his interactions with party folks in the ongoing Thank You tour.

Dr Bawumia, at his meeting in Takoradi Saturday 26 April, spoke to the Professor Mike Ocquaye’s committee’s report.

He mentioned that the report, as presented to the NPP’s National Council, and elaborated on by the Npp’s General Secretary Justin Kodua, did not find the religious factor as a key reason for the Npp’s loss.

There have been speculations that the loss was attributable to Dr Bawumia’s Moslem religion, not finding favour with Christian voters. The reasons given by party supporters for staying away from the 2024 polls, as reported by the Ocquaye committee, did not include the Moslem factor in any considerable degree.

Indeed the reasons given by supporters for staying away included governance issues such as the the economic situation, perceived arrogance on the part of government appointees, the Electronic Levy, the high cost of living, the Domestic Devt Exchange Programme, Non reshuffle of appointees, the National cathedral, increment in fuel prices days to the elections, Inadequacies in thd Npp’s electoral processes etc, etc.

Dr Bawumia, after acknowledging these difficulties as reported by the same party people to the Ocquaye committee, proceeds to apologise to party people for these given shortcomings. Indeed, the same theme of acknowledgement of the wrongs as reported to the Ocquaye commitee , and apology, was repeated by the Party’s General secretary Justin Kodua and Kennedy Adjepon in their address to the party supporters.

Dr. Bawumia said these are what you party people have said about us. We acknowledge them and apologise for them. How does that amount to shifting blame? And to whom did he shift the blame?

Indeed, the acknowledgement and apology have been met with loud applause from the party people. Same as when Justin Kodua general secretary and Kennedy Adjepon made the same acknowledgement and apology.

Let’s continue to mend our ties with our party people with truth and sincerity.

NANA AKOMEA
on the tour bus