VEEP TERMINATES UPPER EAST CAMPAIGN AS J.J DIES 12th NOVEMBER, 2020

Vice President of the Republic of Ghana and the Running Mate to President Nana Addo of the New Patriotic Party [NPP] in the 2020 general elections, H.E Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia has terminated his campaigns in the Upper East Region following the demise of Ghana’s Ex-President, Jerry John Rawlings.

Dr. Bawumia Speaking at the Bongo Durbar

  

Dr. Bawumia formally announced this termination at Zuarungu in the Bolgatanga East District of the region around 15:47 GMT at which time himself and his entourage had arrived there to address a durbar of the Chiefs and people of the area on the last leg of his three-day campaign tour of the region. He had earlier in the day, addressed similar durbars in Bongo in the Bongo District and in Sakote in the Nabdam district.

He told the gathering that President Nana Addo had issued an official statement on the ex-president’s passing in which he declared seven days of national mourning in memory of late J.J Rawlings and the subsequent suspension of the party’s political campaigns with immediate effect. Dr. Bawumia, described the death of ex-president Rawlings as “a sad day for Ghana, a sad day for Africa and a sad for the world. President Jerry John Rawlings was a colossus in the political history of Ghana and we are so shocked to learn of his passing”.

The official statement signed and issued around late afternoon by H.E President Nana Addo stated in part that, ex-president Rawlings died this Thursday morning at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital by 10:10 AM.

The Vice President thus asked the chiefs and people who had gathered to understand situation for the call-off of the planned durbar stressing that “where we are in Ghana now, our collective state of mind is that we are united in mourning the loss of our former president”.

However in the morning of the day, the Vice President attended a durbar of the chiefs and of the Bongo traditional area in the Bongo District where he made a strong case for the retention of President Nana Addo and the NPP administration for another four-year term in order to consolidate the giant development gains chalked already under four years. He mentioned for instance the introduction of a new student loan scheme at the tertiary level which will be devoid of the Guarantor System with a grace period for the graduate to first settle down in jobs before doing repayment.

He disclosed on the start of the region’s campaign tour that, the government had so far completed as many as 688 projects out of a total of 1,488 undertaken in the whole across various sectors. He described the NPP government as one that had always been known for the promulgation and implementation of effective pro-poor policies from ex-president John Agyekum Kufuor’s days through to the present regime. He cited policies and programmes such as the Planting for Food and Jobs [PFJ], the 1-Village; 1-Dam, 1-Constituency; 1-Ambulance, the Nation Builders’ Corp [NABCO], the Zongo Development Fund and 1-District; 1-Factory as evidence of how successfully government had so far pushed Ghana’s development agenda.

Dr. Bawumia also reminded the Chiefs and people of government’s restoration of the teacher and nursing-training allowances which were cancelled under the previous administration and the successful implementation of the flagship Free Senior High School [SHS] which had as many as 1,200,000 students benefiting so far. He mentioned additionally that, the start of works on the multi-million Dollar Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam Project indicated the fact that, government would continue with concrete policies that would impact positively on the welfare of the Ghanaian people.

The Vice President also talked of the region’s road network and disclosed that, the Bolgatanga-Bawku-Pulmako road had about 50 kilometres of it completed while the remainder 46 kilometres was being worked on. Also, the Bolgatanga-Sherigu-Naaga is receiving various degrees of works as well as the Navrongo-Naaga road.

Paramount Chief of Bongo Naba Baba Salifu A. Lemyaarum in his speech at the durbar, saw the Vice President’s visit as a sign of the good relationship that exists between government and the people of the traditional area. He thanked government for some important projects that had been brought to the area and mentioned the completion of a 1,000 ton warehouse at the Bogrigor and the construction of the Bongo-Balungu bridge and the compounding of the stretch of road connecting the two communities.

BoNaba Lemyaarum at the durbar

Naba Lemyaarum also disclosed that some five CHPS compounds had been completed in selected in the area while 100 boreholes had also been drilled and fitted in some underserved communities. He also revealed that NABCO beneficiaries in the area totaled 300 with another 300 benefiting from the Youth in Afforestation model. Meanwhile, eight dams have also been constructed under the 1-Village; 1-Dam.

The chief made passionate appeals to Dr. Bawumia to assist the Traditional Council to clear and take delivery of a container-load of assorted donations from the people of Korea. He requested that government initiates the necessary procedures to elevate the district to a Municipal status as it had come of age.