UNTACD Trip: Bawumia’s delegation list was 16, not 21 – Veep’s Spokeperson

Dr Gideon Boako, Spokesperson to the Vice President, Dr Mahamadu Bawumia has dismissed concerns about the alleged bloated list of a 21-member delegation that accompanied the Veep Mahamudu Bawumia to a conference in Geneva.

The said conference was the annual United Nations Trade and Development Conference (UNTACD) in Geneva, Switzerland in 2017.

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This has triggered a lot of concerns among the Ghanaian populace who believe the number was too huge for just one conference, looking at the money that has to be used to cater for their expenses.

However, the spokesperson in an interview on Starr FM’s Morning Star show on Thursday, October 11, 2018, indicated that the list was in line with protocol arrangements for the office of the Vice President hence, the actual 16-member delegation was not out of place.

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With further justifications, Dr Boako added the number was less than previous regimes and emphasised the Vice President’s delegation had 16 members including security, video cameraman, ADC, protocol and Photographer.

The three mission residents in Switzerland mentioned as part of the delegation did not travel with the Vice President.

Out of the listed also, Dr Gideon Boako, Economic Advisor/Spokesperson and Prof. Joe Amoako-Tuffour, Secretary to the Economic Management Team, were charged to do another assignment at the Quantum Global Research Lab in Zurich for two weeks on behalf of the Economic Management Team.

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Going further, he explained the Vice President is always accompanied by a deputy minister of foreign affairs for all foreign trips. Again, he continued that because UNCTAD is about trade the ministry of Trade, it had to be represented by either the Minister or Deputy Minister.

Meanwhile, Mahamudu Bawumia was the only Vice President invited to the conference and therefore he would normally have to be accompanied by the security detail, photographer, ADC, video cameraman, protocol etc., who cannot be considered as participants at the meeting.