The Deputy Spokesperson for Mahamudu Bawumia's campaign has accused the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of deliberately orchestrating a smear campaign against the former Vice President, as they viewed him as the most formidable candidate in the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Speaking on Joy News’ AM Show, Dr Ekua Amoakoh claimed the opposition began attacking Dr Bawumia as early as 2020 to weaken his public image ahead of future elections.

“Because the NDC noticed that he was obviously the most formidable person coming out of the NPP, a smear campaign was launched against him very early in our administration. I think somewhere in 2020,” she said. “Funny enough, they started coming out to confess their sins on some of the things that they did. And I think luckily for us, you know, the truth and these things, you can’t hide them for too long.”

She further argued that Dr Bawumia’s record as head of the government’s Economic Management Team from 2017 to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic remains one of the strongest in recent Ghanaian history.

“We cannot run away from the fact that you can pull up all the economic indicators of this country from 2017 till before COVID, and you see the statistics — the best that we’ve had in this country for some time. The first time we recorded a single-digit inflation was during that period,” she stated.

Dr Amoakoh also cited International Monetary Fund (IMF) assessments to argue that Ghana’s structural economic weaknesses long predated 2017 and made the country vulnerable to external shocks.

She maintained that the COVID-19 pandemic and the global economic downturn were factors no government could have prevented.

“Even if you read the IMF reports, what it says is that over time, so even before 2017, the economy of the country had been one in such a way that if there was a huge external shock, we would bear the brunt. And that’s exactly what happened,” she added.

According to her, the most important quality in a leader is their response to crises, and in her view, Dr Bawumia demonstrated leadership in navigating the shocks that followed the pandemic.

Dr Bawumia, who served as Ghana’s Vice President from 2017 to 2024, is now seeking to lead the NPP into the 2028 general elections as flagbearer.