Vice President Bawumia fires 50 questions back at Mahama’s five-question challenge and calls for public debate

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has issued a strong response to former President John Mahama’s latest critique of his record as Vice President. In reply to Mahama’s five-question challenge, Dr. Bawumia invited the former President to engage in a direct public debate instead of posing what he described as “flimsy questions.”

This latest exchange follows Mr. Mahama’s five questions to Dr. Bawumia, recalling the 170 questions Mahama previously directed at then-Vice President Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur ahead of the 2016 elections.

Dr. Bawumia responded by inviting Mr. Mahama to a direct debate, stating, “I would have thought he would be man enough to face me in a one-on-one debate for the Ghanaian public to assess our respective policies, achievements, and visions. He should not hide behind these flimsy questions to avoid a debate.” Dr. Bawumia suggested that Mahama’s questions were not substantive and announced he was prepared to answer them in a debate.

To underscore his point, Dr. Bawumia presented his own list of 50 questions about Mahama’s record on critical issues like the economy, infrastructure, and social interventions. “Come for a debate, and I can ask the moderators to ask me these five flimsy questions,” he said, adding that he was prepared to discuss policies ranging from education reform to infrastructure development under the NDC administration.

Among his questions, Dr. Bawumia specifically asked Mahama to clarify his stance on free education, referring to past statements that he claimed opposed the free Senior High School (SHS) policy.

Below are the 50 questions:

1. Can you name any broad-based social intervention policy that you implemented in Ghana as President?

2. Why did you run advertisements against free SHS?

3. If you think your economic management was so good how

    come we experienced more than four years of Dumsor under

4. Why did the banking system almost collapse under your government?

5. Why did you cancel teacher training allowances?

9. How many nurses, teachers, police officers, immigration officers and service personnel did you recruit as President?

10. Why did you implement the three-month pay policy for teachers under the government?

11. Why did you cancel the car import duty waiver for teachers and nurses?

12. Why was average agricultural growth under your government (2.9%) less than half what it is under our government

13. Why was industry growth under your government lower than what it is under our government?

14. Why was overall GDP growth under your government lower than under our government?

15. Why did your government have no industrial policy for Ghana?

16. Why do you think our government has constructed four times more roads than your government did?

17. Why do you think our government has constructed and is constructing more hospitals than your government did?

18. Why do you think our government has constructed and is constructing more schools than your government did?

19. Why do you think our government has constructed and is constructing more fish landing sites than your government did?

20. Why do you think our government has constructed and is constructing more courts than your government did?

21. Why do you think our government has constructed and is constructing more public libraries than your government did?

22. Why do you think our government has constructed and is constructing more sports facilities than your government did?

23. Why do you think our government has constructed and is constructing more airports than your government did?

24. Why do you think our government has constructed and is constructing and equipping more TVET institutions than your government did?

25. Why do you think our government has constructed and is constructing more interchanges than your government did?

26. Why do you think our government has overseen the provision of more NCA-licensed fibre optic cable than your government did?

27. Why do you think our government has constructed and is constructing more sanitation facilities than our government did?

28. Why do you think our government has constructed and is constructing more waste recycling plants than your government did?

29. Why do you think our government has provided 70% more scholarships to students than your government?

30. Why do you think our government has constructed and is constructing more infrastructure in the Zongo communities than your government did?

31. Why do you think our government has provided more vehicles

       and equipment to the security services than your

       government did?

32. Why do you think our government has constructed and is

       constructing more hospitals than your government did?

33. How come your government was unable to issue any

      significant amount of the National Identity Card (Ghanacard)?

34. Why was your government unable to deal with the problem of

       Ghost workers on government payroll?

35. During your period as president only 4% of Ghanaian adults

       had Tax Identification Numbers. Our government has

       increased it to 85%. Why were you unable to do similar?

36. Why was your government unable to digitalize the operations

       at the port to reduce corruption?

37. Why was your government unable to solve the problem of the

      lack of a functioning Ghana-wide property address system?

38. Why was your government not able to solve the problem of

       access to financial inclusion like we have?

39. What help did your government provide children suffering

       from cancer, sickle cell patients and people needing kidney

       dialysis?

39. What help did your government provide children suffering

       from cancer, sickle cell patients and people needing kidney

       dialysis?

40. Why did you fulfill only 28% of your promises in your 2012

       Manifesto?

41. What measures did your government implement to address

       the problem that people have in paying rent advance?

42. What did you do to help people who had difficulty in enrolling

       for or renewing their National health insurance

       memberships?

43. What did your government do specifically to promote the

       creative arts and tourism?

44. How did your government address the problem of getting

      emergency drug, blood and vaccine delivery to remote parts

      of Ghana in times of emergency?

45. How did your government address the problem of tertiary

      students who could not access student loans because they

      could not find guarantors?

46. As Vice-President, I have initiated or championed policies

       such as  One Constituency One Ambulance, Agenda 111,

       Medical Drones, Zongo Development Fund, E-Pharmacy,

       Ghanacard, Digital Property Address System, Mobile Money

       Interoperability, Paperless Ports, No Guarantor Student

       Loans, Ghana.Gov, Citizens App, Go-Ride, Gold for Oil, Bank

       of Ghana Gold Purchase Program, District Road Improvement

       Program (DRIP) etc. ? Can you tell Ghanaians what policies

       you championed or initiated as Vice-President?

47. Why were you unable to implement Free Technical and Vocational Education as we have done?

48. Why was your government unable to absorb examination registration fees for BECE and WACSSE students

49. Can you provide one coherent explanation of your 24-hour economy proposal?

• 50. What specific measures did you implement to combat corruption during your tenure as president?