Vice President Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia

When Vice Presi­dent Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia made it clear that if given the oppor­tunity to choose between the Ghana Card on the one hand and some road interchanges on the other, he would prefer to choose the Ghana Card, many people, especially those in the opposition, lam­basted him and rained insults on him just because they did not understand the essence of his choice.

What Vice President Bawumia meant when he made the choice of the Ghana Card was that the card was a facility or document that could make things easy as far as business transac­tions between individuals and corporate organisations are concerned. He meant that the document known as the Ghana Card was going to facilitate all transactions and make things easy for socio­economic development in the country.

Some of the direct ben­efits of his profound state­ment and choice are that the Ghana Card would serve as an identity to make it easy for people to register for their health insurance, merge their SSNIT numbers with it, and also help everyone to be eas­ily identified for the purpose of participating in elections in the country at any point in time.

The Ghana Card, which serves as our national ID card, would also serve as an employee identity card on all occasions and help the country to fish out criminals in the country. Again, going for loans from the banks or engaging in any form of busi­ness transaction could also be facilitated through the use of our national identity card, otherwise known as the Ghana Card.

If the Ghana Card can be used for all these purposes, among other things, then it stands to reason that all forward-looking citizens of this country ought to un­derstand and embrace it for its socioeconomic values. It takes only a genius like Vice President Dr. Bawumia to un­derstand the essence of our national ID card, the Ghana Card. It is this card that can help promote revenue collection and also promote business transactions in any part of this country for the reconstruction of Ghana’s economy. If this is the case, then it is possible to use the ID card, which is the Ghana Card, to generate enough revenue to rebuild roads, hospitals, schools, road in­terchanges, and many other good things in the country.

Those who misunderstood the Vice President are not the reading type or lack knowledge of processes that could easily lead to the build­ing of facilities and other good things in the country.

From this, it becomes clear that Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia is a genius whose foresight goes beyond that of his political opponents. Un­derstood in this way, the Vice President is a great economic genius whose contribution to the economic growth of the country is beyond measure.

He should be seen as a great asset that is far bet­ter than many of the human commodities we have in this country. His plans and programmes for this country go beyond the immediate benefits that this country can derive from our national growth.

WHO THEN IS A GENIUS?

A person can be described as a genius when he’s knowl­edgeable, creative, skilled, and understands the present and the future. Such a person also knows what can be done today to push us further or forward for progress in the future. In other words, such a person has foresight as far as economic strides are con­cerned.

It is good that Vice Pres­ident Bawumia is the Head of the National Economic Management Team and is col­laborating with other hard­working personalities such as the Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, and many others in the country to ensure that Ghana moves on smoothly to achieve the ultimate eco­nomic goal for the country. This is what we need to meet all the challenges facing a developing country like Ghana and propel the country from its current economic level to a higher pedestal of economic development.

The world has been facing serious economic challenges as a result of the Russian-Ukraine war and the COVID-19 pandemic. These developments have taught Ghana and many others in the world that we need to take pragmatic measures to strengthen our economy and make it more resilient to economic shocks.

The Akufo-Addo adminis­tration has, therefore, react­ed positively to this develop­ment, making it possible for the country to make strides in the face of global econom­ic challenges.

In spite of the challeng­es facing the country, the Akufo-Addo administration, ably supported by Vice Pres­ident Bawumia, the Finance Minister, and the Economic Management Team, is putting up 111 district health facili­ties across the country. In ad­dition, 307 ambulances have been supplied to all parts of the country, and today, every constituency has at least one ambulance.

Furthermore, drones have also been brought in to supply essential drugs to distant places throughout the country. In addition to all these, free Senior High School, Technical and Voca­tional Education and Training are also ongoing to ensure that the manpower needs of the country are being met in the right way.

Coming back to Vice Pres­ident Bawumia as a genius, it should not be forgotten that his role in the economic team is helping to transform the economy of Ghana. Indeed, certain positive measures have been taken to make it possible for the Cedi to gain essential value and appre­ciation. It should not be forgotten that Vice President Bawumia has announced that the government has decided to use gold instead of the US dollar for the purchase of crude oil into the coun­try. This is working perfectly well, and many fuel-export­ing countries have sent rep­resentatives into the country to take advantage of this new arrangement.

In connection with this, all those involved in the legal mining of gold in the coun­try are to deposit the gold they gather in rural banks for these banks to deal with the Precious Minerals and Mining Companies (PMMC) for export.

This is an ingenious measure that can come from practical-oriented minds that can overturn the economic challenges facing the country.

Similarly, Dr. Bawumia and his economic team have also succeeded in controlling speculation regarding the val­ue of the US dollar.

What is more, Dr. Bawumia and his team under the direction of President Akufo-Addo have made it clear that, beginning in 2023, our foreign imports will be cut by 40 per cent. Those who want to bring in com­modities like imported cook­ing oil and imported chicken will have to find their own foreign currencies for that purpose but not request dol­lars from the Bank of Ghana.

These and many oth­er measures taken by Dr. Bawumia and his Economic Management Team under the direction of President Akufo-Addo have helped ease the pressure on the US dollar. This explains why the Cedi is performing wonderfully well and appreciating in value.

For all these reasons, those who are only concerned about empty politics that cannot bring any benefit to the country would have to stop the misdirection of their energy and collaborate with the government to ensure that we are able to achieve our ultimate goal of econom­ic development.

On the basis of this, let each and every Ghanaian support the efforts of the Economic Management Team and also pray that President Akufo-Addo continues to provide the good leadership he has made available for the country so that both the present and future genera­tions will benefit from the current programmes and poli­cies being implemented.

By Dr Kofi Amponsah-Bediako

Email address/whatsApp number of author:

Pradmat201@gmail.com (0553318911)