Former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has said that great nations are built through innovative ideas from visionary leaders, not by how rich a person is.
Speaking in Dormaa on October 22 during his nationwide campaign tour for the NPP primaries, Dr. Bawumia said unemployment remains one of the biggest challenges facing Ghana’s youth. He stressed that solving it requires creative ideas, not personal wealth.
“Ideas build nations and ideas create jobs,” he said, dismissing claims by some of his fellow NPP flagbearer aspirants that they can create jobs simply because they have money.
Citing his achievements as Vice President, Dr. Bawumia pointed to the success of mobile money interoperability, a system that allows seamless transfers between mobile networks and bank accounts. He said this single policy has helped expand Ghana’s mobile money industry and create thousands of jobs.
“Before mobile money interoperability, Ghana had only 8 million mobile money users. Today, there are about 24 million users. This growth has led to over 900,000 mobile money vendors across the country,” he explained.
According to the Bank of Ghana’s July 2025 report, Ghana had 923,000 registered mobile money agents, with about 423,000 actively operating. Before interoperability, there were just over 107,000 agents nationwide.
Dr. Bawumia said these numbers prove that innovation and smart policy ideas can create lasting employment opportunities.
“Being a great leader and creating jobs is not about how much money you have in your pocket. It’s about your ideas. I have shown through my service as Vice President that I have the ideas to transform this country if given the chance,” he added.
