Samira Bawumia has once again hit the campaign stump, and it didn’t really take her too long to register her impact. Like a reserve player introduced during a competitive game, her impact has been instant. Michelle Obama did it for Barack. Hillary did it for Bill, and now Samira is doing it in Ghana. In modern politics, the involvement of spouses in presidential campaigns or primaries is well documented.
In a recent event, she asserts (translated from Twi): “If they can ask Dr Bawumia when he came into the party, then as a young person you need to ask yourself: what is your future in this party?. This is not the way to go. This party is about service; if you apply yourself, you will get what you deserve. And that is what we need to decide on January 31.”
Mrs Bawumia was contributing to the current controversy regarding who is an insider and outsider within Ghana’s leading opposition party. In-group and out-groups, the “us” vs “them” conundrum is a prominent feature in most elections, even in advanced ones such as the United States. It was a major issue during the 2008 elections that saw the election of America’s first black president,t and it reared its head again in subsequent elections in 2016, 2020 and 2024.
In one deft move, she has slayed many dragons. First, she has asserted the role of young people in politics, foregrounding their importance and then attempting to secure their future. From a communicative perspective, she uses a rhetorical question to achieve this goal in one single sentence: “Ask yourself, what is my future?” Great politicians have used the power of rhetorical questions to call attention to many social issues. In this way, she is asking the youth to reject any proposition/system predicated on patrimonialism, patronage, stratification and ethnocentrism.
In that single paragraph or section, she also asserts the importance of meritocracy as a desirable value. Meritocracy is what some of the democracies we admire are built on. The idea that all men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This is an ideal that attracts most of us to America: The American Dream. Samira Bawumia is asking why we can’t have a Ghanaian Dream and culture based on merit and reward instead of patronage.
The next theme that the former second lady, Ms Bawumia, emphasises is service. In rejecting claims of her husband, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, as an outsider, she points out his consequential impact in the party from serving as a Vice-Presidential candidate, his work during the Supreme Court petition and his tenure in an institutionally defining role as Vice President from 2016 to 2024. By doing this, she indirectly awakens another sub-theme tied to service experience.
Lastly, Ms Samira Bawumia offers hope to the young people and the audience by calling on them to vote for the positive values she espouses and reject any negative ones come January 31st,t which is the day of the presidential primaries. Again, this last theme also plays the dual role of a clarion call or rallying call while reminding them of a performative act with a specific date/detail. These are key aspects of persuasive speech-making.
Is she Michelle Obama or is she Hillary Clinton? I think she is both. She has Michelle’s resilience, resistance, charisma and cultural agency, and she has Clinton’s assertiveness and seriousness. All three have great persuasive skills and stand out as exemplars; always performing their duties assiduously and contributing to society and modern politics.
She is Samira Bawumia. She’s back on the campaign trail, and she’s already making a difference.
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