Senior Advisor to the Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia Campaign Team, Anthony Karbo, has described as wrong claims that former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was the sole reason Dr. Bawumia lost the 2024 general elections, arguing that such assertions oversimplify the outcome and ignore broader political factors.
Speaking in an interview, Mr. Karbo said while challenges existed within the Akufo-Addo administration, it would be unfair to directly pin the electoral defeat of Dr. Bawumia on the former President alone.
He cited the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy) as a clear example of a policy that did not resonate with both party supporters and the general public.
“I won’t put that entirely on Akufo-Addo, but I think that as a government, there a couple of things that happened in the administration, certain policies that were completely obnoxious. For instance, E-levy, couldn’t the country have moved on without E-levy?”
He explained that Dr. Bawumia had publicly expressed reservations about taxing small, high-volume digital transactions, which largely affect low-income earners.
According to him, despite Dr. Bawumia’s position, collective cabinet responsibility meant that once a policy decision was taken, government communicators were obliged to defend and explain it.
“That view of Bawumia, I think that is even public knowledge. He’s spoken about it, the fact that he doesn’t think that because of the mass nature of these transactions, that transaction should be taxed. It’s really for people selling 50 Ghana Cedis, 20 Ghana Cedi, 30 Ghana Cedi, 100 Ghana Cedi, Why do you tax the poor?
“So in his mind he thought that that thing shouldn’t be dealt with but of course you’re in a cabinet an editorial decision is an editorial decision the fact that you are the lead broadcaster once the editorial decision is made is your business to go and announce it and you surely have to do that and that’s the clear example of what happened in respect of that matter.”
Mr. Anthony Karbo stressed that several governance-related issues under the administration affected public perception and party morale, contributing to the electoral outcome.
“I think it would be wrong for people to pigeonhole Bawumia and say that oh he lost because of Akufo-Addo, I think that there were certain issues that happened within the government that didn’t sit well first of all with party people and also with the Ghanaian people. Those matters you can’t run away from.”
He disclosed that those realities must be acknowledged as part of an honest assessment of the 2024 election results.
Source: Elvisanokyenews.com
