According to Dr. Bawumia, Aliu Mahama, recommended him as running mate for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, when he [Bawumia] knew nothing about politics.
Speaking at the 5th anniversary of the passing of the former Vice President at his Cantonments home in Accra on Thursday, Dr. Bawumia said he will forever be grateful to the late former Vice President.
[contextly_sidebar id=”9Nxj5yKK0fEkgPhs6YGyRtYrnKQKVDLl”]When Nana Akufo-Addo was considering me for the position of vice presidential candidate, all of you know [that] at that time, I was very much a novice in politics. I was not in politics so he had to do a lot of consultation on whether to select this person. I know that one of the people who really stood up and made a case that yes, Nana, go for this young man was Alhaji Aliu Mahama. He was very unflinching in his support,” he said.
Dr. Bawumia said Aliu Mahama subsequently gave him his initial political training showing him how to campaign and how to immerse himself in the political space.
“When I was selected, he knew that I was a novice in politics. And this is why I forever will be grateful to him. He told me I’m going to hold your hand and help you to become Vice President of this country. He didn’t need to do it, he had already been vice president and he could just rest and give me advise and I will go but no! It wasn’t just about advice, he put in his boots and we started going round the country. Amazingly, he was walking and going places that I never thought he would go with us. He was fully part of the campaign. And it was actually when we were going around that I began to have a deeper appreciation,” he noted.
Aliu Mahama ‘inspired’ Zongo Development Fund
Dr. Bawumia described Aliu Mahama as a kind person, adding that the idea to create the Zongo Development Fund Bill which was recently approved by Parliament, was influenced by determination of the late Vice President to improve the lives of Zongo dwellers.
This he said was to disabuse the propaganda being peddled around that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was against people from the Northern and Zongo communities.
“We see him [Aliu Mahama], as a pioneer as far as our politics is concerned. As Vice President to President Kufuor, he brought something unique to the table. He straddled the zongo community and northern community. The story of the Zongo Development fund was started with Alhaji Aliu Mahama. We were talking and he said we have to do things to let the Zongo appreciate that the NPP is not anti-Zongo as the propaganda was at the time. We said what can we do, and we started talking about specific interventions because successive governments had not paid attention to the zongos. So that is why when we brought that suggestion to Nana Akufo-Addo he immediately said that is a good idea, let us put it in the manifesto and today by the grace of God, we are establishing the Zongo Development Fund,” he added.
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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin