Addressing a durbar of Chiefs and people of Mirigu in the Chiana Paga Constituency during the first day of his tour of the Upper East Region, Dr Bawumia said former President Mahama took advantage of the people of the north and challenged him to name a single development project his government undertook in the Upper East Region under the failed Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) initiative.
"The people of Upper East, I know you will recall that in 2008, former President Mahama came to this region and the north and told us we should vote for him because he was our northern brother," Dr Bawumia recalled.
"He went into the office for eight years as Vice President and President. Can the Upper East tell us what exactly did John Mahama do for the Upper East Region for eight years?"
"What legacy did John Mahama leave in the Upper East Region after eight years?"
"The signature development programme for the northern region was SADA. Upper East Region, what are the projects that SADA left behind? Can you point to any project after $100m? Where are the projects? Of course, we know about the guinea fowls that flew to Burkina Faso."
Dr Bawumia expressed disgust at how $100m was misused by the Mahama administration at the expense of alleviating poverty in the north, as well as developing the northern part of the country.
"They did not do any project, they spent the money. You have money to help your people, to eliminate the poverty of your people and you engage in projects of guinea fowls flying to Burkina Faso."
Akufo-Addo’s commitment to northern development
The Vice President noted further that unlike former President Mahama, who wasted $100m dollars under the guise of developing the north but actually neglected the development of the northern regions, President Akufo-Addo has demonstrated his commitment to the development of the north with several visible projects throughout the Northern Regions, and Upper East in particular.
"Akufo-Addo’s vision is a different vision. With Akufo-Addo, you have your other brother, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia as Vice President and we are delivering,"
"So far in Upper East alone, we are doing 1488 projects and we have completed 688 projects in 4 years. We have begun the biggest investment in northern Ghana since independence, which is the Pwalugu Dam."
“In addition to infrastructure the NPP has introduced planting for food and jobs to boost agriculture, one district one factory, one village one dam, one constituency one ambulance, NABCO, restoration of teacher and nursing training allowances, free Senior High School education which has impacted positively on the lives of the people of the upper east region. Does the NDC under John Mahama have any comparable policies during their 8 years in office? “
"In John Mahama's eight years, not one road was completed in the whole of the Upper East Region. In eight years, they did not complete one road. Today, we are virtually done with Bolga-Bawku road amongst others in under four years”.
Monumental failure of Mahama
Having exposed what he described as Mahama's "monumental" failure to develop the upper east region, Dr Bawumia wondered how the former President has the guts ask the people of the Upper East Region to vote for him again.
"Is this the same John Mahama who wants to come back to be President of this country after the poor record of the development of the upper east region?"
"His record was a monumental failure of development. And so we don't want a return; we are taking a step forward already with Nana Akufo-Addo."
"Let us keep going forward; we don't want to go backward. So If you vote for number one, you take one step forward; number two is two steps backwards.
“Nana Akufo Addo has demonstrated without any doubt that the upper east has seen and will see more development under his leadership."
Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia