<<Print>>

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Running Mate to Nana Akufo-Addo for the 2012 General Elections, Friday, was mobbed by hundreds of market women and traders in the Tamale Aboabo market when he paid an unannounced visit to the market. He was in the market to interact with the market women and traders on various issues bordering on their livelihoods and also to solicit their support for the New Patriotic Party for the December 2012 polls. The Aboabo market immediately went agog when the vice presidential candidate of the opposition NPP arrived. Before heading into the market, Dr. Bawumia joined fellow Muslims in and around the market for prayers. He said he had come to the Mosque to join the Muslim community to worship and also to show his appreciation to the Muslim community especially around Aboabo for unending support to him and the NPP. The Vice-Presidential candidate urged the Imams and Elders of the Mosque to constantly pray for guidance and blessings for him and his team. He also requested that constant prayers be said for the nation as it undergoes the process of selecting leaders. The Elders of the Aboabo Mosque indicated their happiness at having Dr. Bawumia and his team join them for prayers. The Elders of the Mosque referring to the Lecture delivered by Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia at the 5th Ferdinand Ayim Memorial Lectures on the �State of the Economy� saidd that after listening to the lecture, they had become fully convinced that Ghana cannot afford to lose the opportunity in making such a great brain a Vice-President and have therefore decided to throw their weight fully behind the NPP Presidential ticket. While in the market, Dr. Bawumia took time to interact with the market women and traders in their stores and stalls urged the men and women of the market to translate the enthusiastic support they were displaying into votes come election day and to ensure that Nana Akufo-Addo was elected as President to implement the many great ideas which would ultimately see to an improvement in their lives. The various market women and traders in the market who interacted with Dr. Bawumia urged the Running Mate to keep up the good work as victory beckoned. They expressed their concerns on the increasing hardships they were experiencing and informed Dr. Bawumia of how their businesses were suffering. The market women were particularly concerned about the high school fees they had to pay in order to see their wards through school and expressed the hope that with the election of Nana Akufo-Addo and Dr. Bawumia and the introduction of the Free Senior High School (SHS) programme, their burden would be lifted. Dr. Bawumia, the renowned economist, in response urged the women to be hopeful of better times in the future. The NPP Running Mate mentioned that he was happy that the women especially had appreciated the value of education and reiterated the pledge to make Free Senior High School free so that money would not be a barrier to Senior High School education. Dr. Bawumia added that the implementation of the Free SHS programme would ensure that brilliant boys and girls from the North who would ordinarily end up migrating to the South and doing menial jobs, would now have access to higher, quality education which would equip them with the needed intellect and capacity to build better lives for themselves and their families.