The Director General of the National Lottery Authority of Ghana, Sammi Awuku, has praised vice President Mahamudu Bawumia by emphatically stating that through him, Ghanaians got to understand the electoral process.
“…and it was through Dr. Bawumia that we got to understand the electoral process. Because with many Ghanaians, they were only casting their vote without understanding the process”, he said as he serialized the contributions of vice President Bawumia to our national elections.
Mr. Awuku’s assertions were based on the outcome of the 2012 election petition where Dr. Bawumia mounted the witness box for 8 months to testify on behalf of the New Patriotic Party.
Speaking to Gordon Asare Bediako on Movement TV’s ‘B3 Kyere Mu’ show, Mr. Awuku stated that vice President deserves his flowers for withstanding the “artillery fire” of the NDC when they threw seasoned lawyers like Tsatsu Tsikata and Tony Lithur at him in court during the cross-examination process.
He continued that the whole essence of cross examination is to establish the honesty of the witness and vice President Bawumia according to Mr. Awuku, proved his credibility as witness during the exercise.
“For the vice President to be subjected to 8 months of grilling of NDC’s artillery fire- the combined effect of Tsatsu Tsikata, Tony Lithur with lawyer Bashit Bamba. To be a star witness for 8 months being on the screens every day, being consistent, not losing your cool because your patience would be tested, your resilience would be tested, your intelligence would be tested and your composure would be tested”, he said.
In his view, the contribution of the vice President to Ghana’s electoral process can’t be discounted because of the major role he has played.
“Every generation is credited with a certain responsibility; it took a very good generation of our forefathers to fight for independence. It took another good generation of our uncles and others to also fight for multi-party democracy. It took another great generation of our fathers and our senior colleagues to fight for election 2000 and it had to take another golden generation to win 2016”, he said.
Touching on the NPP’s flagbearership contest, Mr. Awuku stated that Bawumia is in with very solid competitors but encouraged him to “go through that grilling because he is in a leadership contest”.
“He is in contest with very solid competitors- Boakye Agyarko, a very solid brain and an achiever, Hon Alan is a distinguished personality, take a look at Kwabena Agyei Agyapong he understands the party. Kennedy Ohene Agyapong is also a great person, Joe Ghartey is a distinguished personality and the others”, he said.
