Former Vice President and New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer hopeful, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has accused President John Mahama of deceiving Ghanaians over the true causes of price hikes ahead of the 2024 general election.

Speaking during engagements with current and former constituency executives and ex-government officials in the Eastern Region, Dr Bawumia said the NPP consistently explained that the sharp rise in prices since 2022 was due to the global impact of COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war.

However, he noted, the then-opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) rejected this reasoning and blamed economic mismanagement instead.

“During the 2024 elections, we said the rise in prices across the country was caused by COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine.

"But President Mahama and the NDC dismissed this, insisting it was due to economic mismanagement,” Dr Bawumia stated.

According to Dr Bawumia, President Mahama recently admitted at a forum in New York that COVID-19 had indeed driven up prices across Africa, reversing over a decade of progress in poverty reduction in just two years.

He argued that this acknowledgment confirmed the NPP’s position all along and exposed President Mahama’s failure to be truthful with voters during the campaign.

"This shows that he knew the truth but chose not to disclose it during the elections. We [NPP] recognised the problem, but they [NDC] did not. Now, everyone can see the truth for themselves.

"As we head into the 2028 elections, let us renew our minds, entrust power to Dr. Bawumia and the NPP, and continue improving economic management, because we got it right," he said.