New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer Mahamudu Bawumia has criticised the Mahama government’s economic management, saying improvements in inflation and exchange-rate stability have not translated into relief for households struggling with the cost of living.
“You cannot have a stable economy with people suffering. Stability is not an end in itself,” the former vice-president said on Sunday at a thanksgiving service in Sunyani, the capital of the Bono Region.
Bawumia argued that the country’s economic performance should be measured not only by official indicators but also by their impact on the finances of ordinary citizens.
He described Ghana’s economy as a “tale of two economies” — one reflected in official statistics and another in the pockets of households.
“Stability of the economy is meaningless if it cannot be linked up with the total liberation of the suffering of our people,” he said.
The government has pointed to easing inflation and relative stability in the foreign exchange market as signs of economic recovery.
But Bawumia questioned whether those developments had improved living conditions, particularly for cocoa farmers, and called for greater attention to the economic pressures facing ordinary Ghanaians.
He also accused President John Dramani Mahama’s administration of failing to deliver on its promises concerning the 24-hour economy initiative and the Agenda 111 hospital programme.
“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.
The former vice-president further alleged that people who criticised the government faced arrest, but did not cite specific cases during his remarks.
Costed policies for 2028
Bawumia said the NPP would seek to regain power in the 2028 general election with practical and costed policy proposals, arguing that the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) had become vulnerable to criticism over its campaign promises.
“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.
He said the NPP had reviewed its defeat in the 2024 elections and completed a reorganisation of its structures, from polling station executives to national officers.
According to Bawumia, the party was now stronger than it had been during the last election and was preparing to challenge the NDC at the next polls.
He also defended his decision to concede defeat in 2024, saying he had done so in the interest of peace.
“I conceded defeat in the interest of peace. We did a postmortem of our defeat,” he said, adding that he would seek to correct the party’s mistakes if elected president.
Bawumia expressed confidence in the NPP’s prospects in the Bono Region, saying regional chairman Kwame Baffoe, popularly known as Abronye, had assured him the party could win all parliamentary seats there.
He called for national unity across ethnic and religious lines, saying political leadership should focus on improving the welfare of citizens.
“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 Mahama, who returned to office after previously serving as president from 2012 to 2017.
