A Development Economist and Senior Lecturer at the University for Development Studies, Tamale says Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia lacks the legitimacy to lead the New Patriotic Party (NPP) into the 2024 general elections.

This according to Dr. Michael Ayamga is because of the percentage of votes recorded by the newly-elected flagbearer in the November 4 Presidential Primaries.

Speaking on the AM Show on JoyNews on Monday, the senior lecturer argued that with almost 40% of the delegates voting against Dr. Bawumia, their rejection spells a message of doom for the NPP in the December 7, 2024 elections.

He insists the Vice President has lost credibility among Ghanaians and currently represents a third-term for President Akufo-Addo.

“40% is no small number. It now means that his campaign team has to rebrand and resell him and given the baggage of Bawumia, he is not going to excite anybody.

"The Vice President comes across as someone who has lost credibility in terms of his ability to transform his speech into action.

"Many people know that Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia is Akufo-Addo’s third term and that the powers that he draws are firmly rooted in the circles and in the structures that brought President Akufo-Addo to power and that has anchored him in government so far,” he said.

Dr. Ayamga also described the NPP Primaries as a ‘state choreographed election’, orchestrated to ensure the Vice President emerged winner.

“I think that the Vice President as it stands now lacks the legitimacy to lead if 40% of your own party thinks that you do not deserve to be President of this country.

"So taking that message to the wider electorates is only going to spell disaster.

"I am in Northern Ghana here and I can tell you that the news of his election is going stale. There is no excitement behind his election. When you are speaking to people belonging to the NPP, there is this inner dissatisfaction with their choice.

"We more or less saw a ‘state choreographed election’. Everything was done to make sure that the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia emerged the winner. There was certain fear that he was not going to emerge the winner.

"Some people had to do something to ensure that what the people wanted to project doesn’t come to pass. So that is the problem we are confronted with here,” he explained.

Background

In the NPP presidential primary held over the weekend, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia emerged as the party's chosen candidate for the 2024 general election.

Out of approximately 210,000 delegates, Dr Bawumia secured 118,210 votes, while his closest contender, MP for Assin Central, Ken Agyapong, received 71,996 votes.

With his victory, Dr Bawumia will face ex-President John Dramani Mahama, who secured the endorsement of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) earlier in the year.