The 2024 New Patriotic Party (NPP) running mate, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has dismissed claims that Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia abandoned economic matters during the latter years of the Akufo-Addo administration.

Speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen show, Dr. Opoku Prempeh explained that while Dr. Bawumia was deeply involved in economic issues during the government’s first four years, his shift towards digitalisation in the second term was a deliberate strategy to support the economy through alternative means.

According to him, Dr. Bawumia did not shy away from economic responsibility but rather adapted to circumstances where direct control over economic management may no longer have been within his remit.

“Even during COVID-19, Ghana’s economy was one of the best managed. So what went wrong? Perhaps the economic challenges were not directly attributed to Bawumia during President Akufo-Addo’s second term,” he stated.

Dr. Opoku Prempeh further referenced the period when 88 NPP Members of Parliament publicly raised concerns about the state of the economy and called for the dismissal of some government officials.

“When the 88 MPs from the NPP said the economy was not performing well and called for dismissals, Bawumia was present, yet they mentioned someone else’s name instead of his. If he was directly responsible for the economic situation, why wasn’t his name mentioned?” he asked.

He added that while he did not oppose the public nature of the MPs’ action, he would have supported the dismissal of the individual named if the decision had been subjected to a private vote.

“The fact that 88 MPs made that statement should tell us something important. Bawumia spoke extensively about the economy in the first four years, but in the last four years, he focused mainly on digitalisation. It was not an attempt to evade responsibility; perhaps economic management was no longer within his direct control, so he explored other avenues to support economic growth,” he concluded.