By William
Yaw Owusu
Saturday
February 03, 2018
It was all excitement at the Kotoka
International Airport in Accra on Thursday evening when Vice President Mahamudu
Bawumia arrived from the United Kingdom after a brief medical review in London.
The vice president, in the company of
his wife Samira Bawumia, arrived on a British Airways flight into the waiting
hands of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, his wife Rebecca and almost all
ministers of state and top government appointees.
Dr Bawumia’s
arrival was without the usual fanfare associated with such trips of such
important personalities, as the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government tried to
keep the arrival under wraps.
Before the arrival, political opponents
of the NPP had photoshopped a news release from the Presidency creating the
impression that the ruling party was busing supporters to welcome the vice
president at the Kotoka International Airport.
The government announced on January 20,
2018 that Dr Bawumia had left Ghana to the UK on medical leave on advice of his
doctors.
The moment the vice president was taken
ill, elements in the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) quickly
oiled their propaganda machine and started spreading wicked lies that the respected
economist, banking and finance guru has either been ‘poisoned’ or ‘knocked’
down by mild stroke.
The NDC elements seized the opportunity
and even went to the extent of putting out a cooked coroner’s report which they
claimed was a confidential document, declaring the one-time deputy governor of the
Bank of Ghana (BoG) and respected economist dead.
Also, those claiming to have spiritual
powers, particularly pastors, also entered the fray with ‘prophecies’, creating
the impression that the vice president was in serious danger.
The wicked and spurious allegations backfired
after a few days when an audio-visual recording went viral, especially on
social media, showing the vice president in a hearty mood.
The video showed Dr Bawumia in the
company of his wife, Samira, walking on the streets of London, United Kingdom,
in a hearty conversation and exchanging pleasantries with passers-by.
Following the activities of bad politicians
in the light of Dr Bawumia’s trip abroad, the negative role of social media has
come under the scrutiny of the public once again. Responsible personalities
from both sides of the political divide have pointed out that even though
freedom of expression and media must be enhanced, what has happened in the past
fortnight leaves much to be desired.
Even when it was reported that the vice
president was living in a rented accommodation in London, the mischief makers
reported that his condition had become critical and so was transferred to
another health facility as though the Guys Hospital they said he was
hospitalised in could not manage the ailment they lied he was afflicted with.
Not even the pictorial evidence in
opposition to what they had put out textually as being the true reflection of
the vice president’s state stopped them immediately. They questioned the
authenticity of the pictures and subjected themselves to public opprobrium when
their project eventually dropped from the precipice.
In the course of the medical leave,
scores of Ghanaian dignitaries, particularly top politicians, thronged the
London flat where he was recuperating, and Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, the UN
Special Representative and Head of the UN Office for West Africa (UNOWA), was not
left out.
Dr Bawumia, who has almost become a
thorn in the flesh of the NDC because of his exposure on the poor management of
the national economy by the erstwhile Mahama administration, is expected to
return to work very soon, according to Flagstaff House sources.
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