Mahamudu Bawumia soared from being a political outsider to grow to be Ghana’s second-in-command – and in December he may make historical past because the nation’s first Muslim president.
Bawumia, at present Ghana’s vice-president, was chosen by the governing New Patriotic Celebration (NPP) as their candidate for the forthcoming normal election.
The 61-year-old Tottenham Hotspur supporter has fairly the popularity.
He’s an mental educated at Oxford College, isn’t seen with out his signature slim, rectangular glasses and has been dubbed “Mr Digital” due to his pledge to whip Ghana right into a technological heavyweight.
However as a result of he’s head of the federal government’s financial administration crew, many Ghanaians affiliate Bawumia with the punishing price of dwelling disaster they’re experiencing.
Ought to Bawumia overcome the criticism and win the election, he’ll exchange his present boss President Nana Akufo-Addo, who’s approaching the top of his two-term restrict.
“Mr Digital” barrelled onto the political scene in 2008, sparking bemusement and scepticism.
Bawumia was a 44-year-old who had by no means held public workplace, but Akufo-Addo – then a mere presidential candidate – had chosen him as a operating mate.
Bawumia’s father Alhaji Mumuni had served in Ghana’s earliest governments after the nation gained independence from Britain in 1957, working carefully with revered Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah.
However the youthful Bawumia had cast a profession in economics and banking – serving because the deputy governor of Ghana’s central financial institution.
To many commentators and NPP insiders, it made no sense for Akufo-Addo to choose Bawumia over seasoned celebration members.
Akufo-Addo ended up dropping the election to John Atta Mills from the Nationwide Democratic Congress (NDC) by a tiny margin.
Bawumia misplaced out on the VP job – however his charismatic marketing campaign had silenced the naysayers.
“He fired [up] the NPP marketing campaign. I feel no-one else may have executed a greater job, to be trustworthy, when it comes to the help he gave to the NPP,” Ghanaian political scientist Dr Clement Sefa-Nyarko instructed the BBC.
Mahamudu Bawumia was born to mom Hajia Mariama and father Alhaji Mumuni within the metropolis of Tamale [Mahamudu Bawumia]
Akufo-Addo and Bawumia gave the elections one other go in 2012. Once more, they misplaced.
The NPP challenged the election leads to the Supreme Courtroom, selecting Bawumia as their star witness.
In the course of the proceedings, which have been broadcast on nationwide tv, Bawumia got here throughout as witty and unflustered by the relentless, days-long cross-examination.
“Folks have been like, who is that this man? He is actually the man to root for,” stated Dr Sefa-Nyarko, who lectures on African management at King’s Faculty London.
Akufo-Addo determined to maintain Bawumia on his ticket and in 2016, on their third shot at energy, the NPP gained with 51.3% of the vote. Bawumia lastly grew to become vice-president.
Bawumia’s journey to the highest started in 1963, when he was born into a big household within the northern metropolis of Tamale.
He was the twelfth of his father’s 18 kids.
After finishing main and secondary faculty in Ghana, Bawumia moved to the UK for undergraduate examine and went on to achieve a masters in economics from the distinguished Oxford College.
To help himself throughout his research, he took up jobs as a taxi driver and cleaner.
He returned to Ghana in 2000 to work on the central financial institution, the place he labored his approach as much as grow to be deputy governor.
Bawumia’s spouse is vocal about politics and has launched into marketing campaign excursions to drum up help for the NPP [AFP]
Bawumia campaigned on this financial know-how throughout his makes an attempt to grow to be VP. Subsequently, he confronted heavy criticism when Ghana plummeted into its most extreme financial disaster in years below his watch.
Inflation hit a report 54% in December 2022 and the nation was pressured to take a $3bn (£2.3bn) mortgage from the Worldwide Financial Fund after authorities debt soared.
In response to the criticism, Bawumia has stated the financial administration crew he headed had no “decision-making powers” and that it merely offered recommendation to the federal government.
However for a lot of, this wasn’t adequate.
“When it comes to character, when it comes to integrity, folks began questioning themselves: ‘What is that this? How did it find yourself right here? We thought you have been the perfect man, and take a look at the place we have ended up’,” Franklin Cudjoe, a Ghanaian political commentator and head of the Imani Centre for Coverage and Training, instructed the BBC.
Alongside along with his position as an economist, Bawumia has additionally constructed the popularity of being a digital visionary.
Ghana’s digital ecosystem has seen “vital progress” particularly in areas resembling cell phone connectivity, Charles Abani, head of the United Nations crew in Ghana, remarked final month.
This “exceptional digital transformation” was “spearheaded” by Bawumia, information web site African Enterprise reported, whereas Ghanaian newspaper The Chronicle hailed Bawumia’s “experience in international digital transformation”.
Bawumia stated he initiated a partnership between Ghana’s authorities and US-based firm Zipline, which led to the creation of the world’s largest vaccine supply community.
He stated he reached out to Zipline, which makes use of drones to fly well being merchandise to hard-to-reach clinics, after his father died from a lack of blood.
Though this ardour for know-how is widely known by some, others are extra sceptical.
Mr Cudjoe stated Bawumia has been campaigning on digitalisation slightly than confronting debates in regards to the authorities’s dealing with of the economic system.
“Whether or not Bawumia was in energy or not, digitalisation was sure to occur on this nation as a result of we had already began it anyway,” Mr Cudjoe stated.
Dr Sefa-Nyarko stated of Bawumia: “What he has been very profitable at is to push and in addition declare all credit score for digitalisation outcomes of the present authorities.”
Bawumia’s supporters hail him as a technocrat [Mahamudu Bawumia]
Bawumia’s private life has additionally been a power in his presidential marketing campaign. His spouse of 20 years, Samira, is a former magnificence queen who’s extensively admired for her stylish outfits.
The Second Woman can also be vocal in terms of celebration politics – and has launched into marketing campaign excursions for the NPP.
The couple have 4 kids collectively. They’re proud followers of Islam – a faith practised by roughly one in 5 Ghanaians.
Most individuals in Ghana are Christians however there’s not a lot proof that coming from a non secular minority will hinder Bawumia’s election possibilities, Dr Sefa-Nyarko stated.
The NPP has given its “full help” to Bawumia’s candidacy, “his Muslim religion however”, Dr Sefa-Nyarko added.
“This might translate into widespread help throughout the nation as nicely.”
Bawumia’s geographical identification could be of higher consequence than his faith. The vice-president hails from northern Ghana, which is likely one of the NDC’s strongest political bases.
By selecting Bawumia as its presidential candidate, the NPP shall be hoping to make inroads within the north, whereas retaining help in its heartland within the south.
Bawumia has been traversing north, south, east and west in what he calls the “prospects bus”, a blue and pink marketing campaign car emblazoned with the slogan “it’s attainable”.
To some, he’s the face of financial mismanagement, however the vice-president retains a number of the optimism he held when he was a 44-year-old embarking on an eight-year battle for energy.
“I’ve the braveness to just accept when issues don’t go in addition to deliberate,” he instructed voters in his manifesto.
“However I even have a mindset of prospects, and religion in ourselves, that we will rise and obtain nice issues in our lifetime.”
Extra reporting by the BBC’s Thomas Naadi in Accra
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