New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer Mahamudu Bawumia has challenged the Mahama administration to demonstrate how improvements in Ghana’s key economic indicators are easing the financial burden on ordinary citizens, insisting that economic stability means little if households continue to struggle.
He said the government’s claims of progress in reducing inflation and stabilising the exchange rate must be assessed against the realities facing families, traders and farmers grappling with the cost of living.
Addressing a thanksgiving service in Sunyani, the Bono Regional capital, on Sunday, the former Vice-President described Ghana’s economic situation as a “tale of two economies”, with official statistics presenting a different picture from the financial difficulties experienced by many citizens.
“You cannot have a stable economy with people suffering. Stability is not an end in itself,” he said.
Bawumia argued that economic recovery should not be judged solely by improvements in macroeconomic indicators but by whether those gains translate into better living conditions and greater financial security for Ghanaians.
“Stability of the economy is meaningless if it cannot be linked up with the total liberation of the suffering of our people,” he added.
His comments come as the government points to easing inflation and relative stability in the foreign exchange market as evidence of economic recovery.
However, Bawumia questioned the extent to which those developments had benefited households, particularly cocoa farmers and other groups facing persistent economic pressures.
Bawumia challenges government over flagship promises
The NPP flagbearer also criticised the government over the implementation of its flagship policy initiatives, particularly the proposed 24-hour economy and the Agenda 111 hospital programme.
He accused the Mahama administration of failing to provide satisfactory evidence of progress on the two initiatives, arguing that the government had not fulfilled the expectations created by its campaign promises.
“Almost two years they don’t understand how they can explain the 24-hour economy. It does not exist. They promised to build Agenda 111 but it has not happened,” he said.
He further alleged that people who criticised the government faced arrest, although he did not cite specific cases to support the claim.
NPP prepares for 2028 elections
Turning to the NPP’s preparations for the 2028 general election, Bawumia said the party intended to present practical, workable and properly costed policies to persuade voters to return it to power.
He argued that the NDC had become vulnerable to criticism over its campaign promises and said the opposition would use that situation to advance its own policy alternatives.
“The NDC made a lot of promises, now they are vulnerable and exposed. So in 2028 we are going with ideas, costed ideas, workable ideas and practical ideas,” he said.
Bawumia said the NPP had reviewed its defeat in the December 2024 elections and completed a reorganisation of its structures, from polling station executives to the national leadership.
He expressed confidence that the party was now better positioned to challenge the governing NDC in the next election.
The former Vice-President also defended his decision to concede defeat in 2024, saying he acted in the interest of peace and national stability.
“I conceded defeat in the interest of peace. We did a postmortem of our defeat,” he said.
He added that the party intended to learn from its electoral setbacks and correct the mistakes that contributed to its defeat.
Confidence in Bono Region
Bawumia also expressed optimism about the NPP’s electoral prospects in the Bono Region, citing assurances from the party’s regional chairman, Kwame Baffoe, popularly known as Abronye, that the party could win all parliamentary seats in the region.
He urged Ghanaians to put aside ethnic and religious differences and focus on national development, saying political leadership should be centred on improving the welfare of citizens rather than intimidation or domination.
“We are in to serve this country and not to intimidate. We are coming and hoping to serve the people of Ghana and not to Lord over the people. We are in to serve and uplift the ordinary Ghanaian,” he said.
Bawumia served as Vice-President under former President Nana Akufo-Addo from 2017 to 2025. He lost the December 2024 presidential election to John Dramani Mahama, who returned to office after previously serving as President from 2012 to 2017.
