The Ghanaian Minaret

Accra: Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has disclosed that he shied away from active politics in his formative years due to insults associated with politics.

He recounted an engagement with his late father, Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia, a former ambassador of Ghana to Saudi Arabia, who enquired whether he had an interest in politics.

The vice president said he told his father that he wanted to focus on becoming a renowned economist.

“Was with my friends when he told me that if you don’t want to venture into politics, then you have no right to criticise when things don’t go well,” he said during a National Muslim Thanksgiving Service and Prayers held on Tuesday.

The occasion was to pray for peace in the upcoming election, thank Allah for blessings, and ask Allah for victory in the election.

The occasion, held under the auspices of the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Usman Nuhu Sharubutu, was climaxed by the recitation of the holy Quran.

Dr. Bawumia narrated that his political career unknowingly started when he met former President Agyekum Kufuor after an economic presentation at a Financial Times Conference on the Ghanaian economy in 2006.

“I had disagreed with what the experts were saying and hoped for an opportunity for rebuttal,” he said.

Given the opportunity to address the gathering, he said his presentation had positively swayed the perception of the participants and endeared the former president to him.

He noted that the intervention he made at the conference paved the way for him as a senior economist to become a deputy governor of the Central Bank of Ghana.

In August 2008, he said he met President Akufo-Addo, who offered to make him a running mate, a decision he said he had to make in 24 hours.

“I couldn’t sleep when I was first offered the opportunity to become a running mate,” he said.

He called on Muslims to help him fulfil his vision of making the country great by voting for the NPP in the upcoming general election.