In what has been described as a massive endorsement of Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, 87 lawmakers and key stakeholders within the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) accompanied him to Akwasidae at Manhyia Palace in Kumasi yesterday.
Those who accompanied the Vice President included Ashanti Region Constituency Executives of the party, some party elders, Ministers of State and their Deputies, Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and other appointees of government.
The move, according to political analysts, is a strong signal to those who have consistently been peddling falsehood that the second gentleman of the land has no support base within the party.
List of lawmakers who accompanied Vice President Bawumia, according to document sighted by THE CUSTODIAN, included about 30 MPs from the Ashanti Region.
The Ashanti Region had the largest number of MPs who travelled with the aspiring presidential candidate of the governing NPP and second gentleman of the land.
Eastern Region came second with 11 MPs followed by Northern Region before Greater Accra who both had nine MPs.
The atmosphere at this year’s festival was charged as a result of the special personalities that graced occasion aside the firing of musketries with traditional priests and priestesses thrilling the crowd with dances.
Dr Bawumia joined the Asanteman to celebrate the 2021 Akwasidae festival of the Ashanti Kingdom with the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, sitting in state at the Manhyia Palace.
He was accompanied by his wife, Samira Bawumia, both of whom were clad in splendid Kente cloth.
The Akwasidae Festival is a magnificent Ashanti celebration which is centred on ancestral reverence, remembrance and acknowledgment of past Kings and noble feats.
It serves as a celebration of the Golden Stool and a cultural vibrancy that brings together the Asantehene, sub-chiefs and subjects at the Manhyia palace.
Father & son relationship
The father and son relationship between Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and Vice President Bawumia is not a hidden bond.
It was manifested in 2021 even though it had existed when Dr. Bawumia visited the King to appreciate the support extended to him during the funeral of his mother, Hajia Mariama Bawumia.
According to him, the Asantehene’s support for him was a clear evidence that indeed Otumfuo is the father for all, so it is in the right direction for him to take Otumfuo as his father.
Vice President Bawumia stated that he and his siblings would hurriedly respond to every call of the Asante Monarch, who is their father, adding that he respects and cherishes Otumfuo.
“Otumfuo you are my everything now; you are my father and whenever you call me, whether morning, afternoon, evening or midnight, I will quickly make myself available”, Dr. Bawumia emphasised.
At the recent commissioning of the newly refurbished Ultra-modern Kumasi Central Mosque, Otumfuo openly accepted the Vice President as a son revealing to the gathering how he nurtured him.
40 MPs travel in bus with Bawumia
It would be recalled that about 40 MPs joined Vice President Bawumia in a commercial bus to Kpembe to attend the funeral of the late Lepowura Alhaji MND Jawula a few weeks ago.
They moved from the Tamale International Airport to Kpembe in the Savanah Region with the Vice President interacting.
Some of the Members of Parliament captured in the bus were the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu; Majority Chief Whip Frank Annoh-Dompreh, Defence Minister Dominic Nitiwul, Minister for the Interior Ambrose Dery, Shiela Bartels, Mustapha Ussif, Habib Iddrisu, Dr. Prince Armah, and Steven Jalulah, among others.
Vice President Bawumia has over the years, won for himself the support of the party and continues attract party grassroots, manifesting at the second Akwasidae in 2023.
