A Senior Political Science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr Kwame Asah-Asante, has suggested that Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia tried to use his address to the nation to redeem his reputation.

Dr Mahamudu Bawumia addressed the nation on February 7 to outline his plans and vision for the country and asked to be elected into office.

Among his policies were abolishing of a number of taxes such as the electronic transactions levy, the 15 percent VAT on electricity, the emissions tax, and an appeal for Ghanaians to elevate him from a "driver's mate" to a driver.

Bawumia's address has received severe backlash from members of the opposition National Democratic Congress. The National Communications Officer of the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi, argued that Dr Bawumia was distancing himself from the government, leaving President Akufo-Addo lonely and defenceless.

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Dr Asah-Asante explained that this was the last chance for the New Patriotic Party flagbearer to restore people's trust in him before official campaigns and propaganda began.

Speaking on JoyFM’s TopStory on February 9, he said “If you listen to Bawumia, what he said, there are a number of things that you can glean from it.

“That is the last opportunity for him to redeem himself from all the things he has said about previous governments which are rearing their ugly heads in this government. 

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“So it is your last time to make and make bold statements about it and then because people will continue to ask you to talk about an improvement in the economy, why are we where we are?

"You talk about the fact that you won’t go to IMF, you are there. You talk about the ills of the economy and all that, we still have them,” 

He added that Dr Bawumia wanted to publicly announce that he disapproves of some governmental policies, which made him touch on the controversial e-levy and VAT on electricity, among other key policies citizens have constantly complained about.

“Another thing was that he wanted to do something about the advice, you remember that he said that the Economic Management Team is just an advisory body. He wanted to do something about the advice that they had given to the government that the government did not heed to.

“You recall that I said that I was expecting him, that when you give advice and it is not heeded to you vote with your feet, you leave the government. They said no that is not easy.

“You realise that he is not happy because if he was happy, he would not make that statement that look I  will cancel E-levy. From day one, Dr Bawumia didn’t like it and it came to pass. Obliviously, if you get an opportunity like this you want to touch on it,”  he added.