TEMA, Ghana, 22nd October: The Secretary-General of the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL), Abraham Koomson, has urged Ghanaian workers not to take the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia seriously when he speaks about the economy, describing his arguments as “AI-generated” and lacking practical solutions.
According to him, Dr. Bawumia was part of the previous NPP administration, which he blames for Ghana’s economic difficulties, and therefore lacks the moral authority to criticise the current government without accounting for the party’s record in office.
Speaking on Ahotor FM’s Adekyee Mu Nsem programme on Thursday, October 22, 2026, Mr. Koomson argued that Dr. Bawumia should first demonstrate accountability for the previous administration’s handling of the economy, including its association with former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.
“They conspired to destroy this country, so if Mahamudu Bawumia can’t bring this man back to the country, then he has no moral right to even campaign,” he said.
His comments follow Dr. Bawumia’s criticism of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) government over what he described as a disconnect between improving macroeconomic indicators and the financial difficulties confronting ordinary Ghanaians.
Speaking at the NPP’s National Thanksgiving Service at the Church of Pentecost in Sunyani in October 2026, Dr. Bawumia reportedly described the situation as a tale of two economies: a “paper economy”, reflected in official statistics such as declining inflation and a stronger cedi, and a “pocket economy”, where citizens continue to struggle with the cost of living.
Mr. Koomson, however, rejected the former Vice-President’s assessment, arguing that improvements in inflation, currency stability and other economic indicators should not be dismissed by someone who served in the previous administration.
Questioning the practicality of Dr. Bawumia’s economic arguments, the GFL Secretary-General said his pronouncements often leave him confused and would be of little help in addressing the country’s economic challenges.
“You think Ghanaians are fools or what? I don’t understand. When I hear him talking about his theories, I get confused. If he teaches this in a classroom, all the students will fail because, if they take it as coming from a PhD holder, then they will be deceiving themselves. What the man will teach can’t be used to solve the economic problems,” he said.
Mr. Koomson said he had consistently cautioned his fellow workers against forgetting the economic difficulties they experienced during the NPP’s eight years in government, insisting that such circumstances should not be allowed to recur.
“We don’t have to take Bawumia seriously. Ghanaian workers don’t have to. I have been talking to my people that what happened under them in the last eight years should never happen to us again,” he stated.
He cited the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), the impact of the programme on pensioners’ investments and the accumulation of public debt as key reasons he finds the NPP’s criticism of the current government’s economic management troubling.
“Look at what happened in the last eight years under the NPP. With the DDEP, retired people’s funds were touched. They borrowed and couldn’t pay, and the youth coming will come and pay the debt. So, if I hear the NPP talking about the economy, it irritates me,” he said.
The labour leader further claimed that many Ghanaians are unconvinced by Dr. Bawumia’s economic arguments, suggesting that only people benefiting from him or those who were outside the country during the previous administration would take his comments seriously.
Mr. Koomson maintained that workers who depend on their monthly salaries should carefully assess Dr. Bawumia’s economic pronouncements against their lived experiences.
“But any worker who depends on his or her monthly income and takes this man seriously, then you also have a problem. Me, I don’t listen to him. When he talks, I see him as an AI-generated something. He will be talking but will not be making sense,” he said.
Story by: Emmanuel Romeo Tetteh (#RomeoWrites✍️)