Audio By Carbonatix
It has emerged that majority of Ghanaians are calling for a debate between Vice President Dr Mohammudu Bawumia and NDC Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo, on the economy and how it is being managed.
A Joy Business poll on Facebook last month and a similar poll by Joy News last year show that more than 70% of Ghanaians want the two political rivals to square off in a debate that will help test the economic might of the two politicians.
In a February 2020 poll in which Joy Business asked Facebook users whether or not Dr Bawumia should accept Hon Adongo's challenge for a debate on the economy. 84% of participants voted ‘yes’ while only 16% said such a debate should not take place.
Almost 7,000 people participated in the poll.
The poll was occasioned by a challenge that the NDC legislator and chartered accountant threw to Dr Bawumia for a debate on the economy earlier in February.
When presenting his party's response to the Vice President's Townhall Meeting held in Kumasi, Mr Adongo, a first time MP, said a “face-to-face” debate would afford Ghanaians an opportunity to properly interrogate the figures churned out the Vice President on the economy.
Mr Adongo had earlier accused the Vice President of providing incorrect figures to hide the poor state of the economy.
While boasting that he will resign from politics should Dr Bawumia beat him in a debate, the MP said his challenge was to ensure that Dr. Bawumia does not “hide on a separate platform to produce his own data” after the Vice President himself asked the NDC to challenge him with counter figures.
“I want to meet him face-to-face and ask him to defend these numbers in the full glare of Ghanaians.
"If they are able to find any magic to dispute the cooking they are doing, I will resign from politics for good,” Mr Adongo said.
Earlier in April 2019 when Mr Adongo replied Dr Bawumia after a similar town hall meeting, Joy News conducted a poll that churned out interesting statistics.
The media organisation asked its followers 'Between Dr Bawumia and Hon Adongo, who makes more economic sense?'
At the end of the poll in that year, 79% of respondents said the NDC legislator made economics more simple and understanding.
Although Dr Bawumia has never replied to MR Adongo directly, his aide, Dr Gideon Boako, has done that in a couple of media encounters.
It remains to be seen if the debate will ever come off, given the gap between the two in terms of weight in politics -- one is a Vice President and Running Mate to the President for the 2020 elections and the other is an MP and Member of Finance's Finance Committee.
Also, Dr Bawumia is an economist while Mr Adongo is a Chartered Accountant.
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