Dr. Richard Amoako Baah, former head of the Political Science Department at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, says the call for a debate between Vice President Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia and former President John Dramani Mahama is a desperate call.
He wants the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to ignore those calls and reject any planned debate among the 2024 presidential candidates.
The NPP’s presidential candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has openly challenged the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Mahama for a televised debate to give Ghanaians the opportunity to critique their policies and visions.
Addressing party supporters at a mammoth rally in Bunkpurugu in the North East Region, Dr. Bawumia expressed his eagerness for a debate with Mahama which he cynically maintained it won’t happen, accusing Mahama of “running away.”
Dr. Bawumia who was responding to Madam Joyce Bawa Mogtari, (spokesperson of Mahama’s campaign team) stressed the NDC flagbearer and his team are unable to explain their “24-hour economy” to Ghanaians hence their insistence to avoid the debate.
Joyce Bawa Mogtari is said to have dismissed calls for the pre-election debate in a post on X.
She has said that Dr. Bawumia is under no obligation or compulsion to challenge anyone to a duel of a debate, maintaining the Vice President should rather prioritize addressing Ghana’s economic challenges over electoral debates.
Dr. Amoako Baah reacting to this in an interview with Isaac Ekow JB, host of Onua FM Atifi Nsem show on Saturday July 7, described the idea for a pre-election debate as irrational, needless and a wily move by the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).
”It is a desperate call because the Vice President is looking for an opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with the other presidential candidates,” he contended.
“It is not like I am against Bawumia but in any part of the world when you are leading the polls, you don’t accept any debate because it is not in your interest to do that,” the former KNUST lecturer reiterated.
He questioned the veracity of Dr. Bawumia’s promises, maintaining that the Vice President as the Head of the Economic Management Team still has the opportunity to prove opposition wrong by salvaging the economy.
He urged Mr. Mahama and his campaign team to reject any planned debate and focus on their message since the pre-election presidential debate is not in their interest.
Story by Maxwell Otoo / Onua FM/ editors.3news.com.
