Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia is qualified to serve as the substantive president, according to Samuel Atta Akyea, a Member of Parliament representing Abuakwa South.

Speaking on the January 3, 2023 episode of Metro TV's Good Evening Ghana show, the lawmaker emphasized that Bawumia's background as an economist was one of his greatest assets and that he would make no excuses for failing to rescue the nation from any economic difficulties.

“I am of the humble view that Dr. Bawumia will be the first president who is an economist and therefore nobody is going to say that the president didn’t understand the economy that is why the economy is a mess.

“Now, he is in the saddle…now you are president, deliver us from the economic mess. Who understands the economy better than the one who is an economist himself? So, in terms of competence, I am persuaded that he has it and he is over the top,” he told host Paul Adom-Otchere.

Atta Akyea also urged the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to choose competence over ethnicity, geography, or religion when selecting their flagbearer.

He reaffirmed his position that Alan Kyerematen, minister of trade and industry, should pair Bawumia with him as his vice and choose him as the consensus candidate.

Later this year, the NPP is anticipated to choose a flagbearer for the elections of 2024.

Alan and Bawumia have been replaced by prominent figures such Kennedy Agyapong, MP for Assin Central, and Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, former general secretary of the NPP.