A former General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Ohene Ntow, has dismissed claims that Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the party's flagbearer, is not responsible for the current state of Ghana’s economy.

Ohene Ntow, a prominent member of Alan Kyerematen’s Movement for Change, explained that Dr. Bawumia was selected as the vice-presidential candidate in 2007 primarily because President Akufo-Addo highlighted his economic expertise and former President John Agyekum Kufuor advocated for his inclusion, believing he could help improve the economy.

In an interview on Peace FM on Monday, June 6, 2024, Ohene Ntow expressed his concerns, stating that the vice president, once promoted as an economic expert, now avoids discussing the country's economic issues and focuses instead on digitalization.

"President Akufo-Addo told the NPP and later Ghanaians that 'I’m pleading with you, let me bring Dr. Bawumia because he is the one who can fix the economy and make it boom'... We (the NPP) refused, saying he was not a member of our party. But President Kufuor said that if we don’t choose Bawumia (as the vice-presidential candidate), we would regret it if the economy fails under our watch, and we accepted him.

"Today, Dr. Bawumia runs away when we talk about the economy. He has taken a small section, digitalization. Digitalization is important, but it is not the whole economy. If you listen to Dr. Bawumia’s own pronouncements during the campaigns for 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020 elections and you compare them to the results, and someone tells me that he (Bawumia) is a new factor, I find it very difficult to accept," he said in Twi.

He added, "Ghanaians would also say that President Akufo-Addo told us that he is not an economist and was delegating the economy's running to Bawumia, and we would see wonders. He gave it to him not for one year, not two years, but for the first term of four years, and the second term of four years – 8 years – we saw nothing, and you want another four years?"

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