Dr. Bawumia’s Smart Phone Credit Will Take 125 Years To Repay: A Misleading Promise

• Dr. Bawumia’s Smart Phone Credit Will Take 125 Years To Repay: A Misleading Promise
• The Unfeasible Promise: Dr. Bawumia’s Smartphone Repayment Plan Defies Logic and Misleads Ghanaians.

Dr. Bawumia, the presidential candidate of the ruling NPP, has disclosed that he will ensure Ghanaians buy smartphones and pay GHS1.00 or GHS2.00 a month in repayment. Honestly, this appears to be a scam or a deliberate deception to mislead Ghanaians, but it won’t hold up in the long run.

It doesn’t make economic sense to offer smart mobile phones and demand that those who buy them pay as little as GHS2.00 per month. Let us educate ourselves by doing some basic mathematics while assuming that the phone in question costs GHS 3000.

If I buy a smartphone on credit worth GHS3000 and you are to repay the phone by making a monthly repayment of GHS2.00, how many years will it take me to pay the full cost of the phone?

Dr. Bawumia promised that anyone purchasing a phone worth GHS3000.00 would be required to make 1500 monthly payments. This translates into 125 years. The full calculation to confirm the years it will take to pay for the phone is below.

The average life expectancy in Ghana is approximately 64 years. If the buyer is 18 years old, he or she will be 143 years old when making his or her final repayment. This promise does not make logical sense because, even if an 18-year-old is buying the phone, let us assume that the phone is credited to a Ghanaian at birth. To start paying for the phone, the Ghanaian will have to turn 18 years old. When will they finish paying?

This promise appears to be one that Ghanaian politicians have made without carefully considering its applicability, relevance, and feasibility. It is critical that politicians treat Ghanaians seriously. The vice president needs to publicly explain how he plans to collect repayments from Ghanaians who will pass away before completing their repayments.

Dr. Bawumia’s promise to force Ghanaians to purchase phones and make GHS2.00 monthly repayments has a number of concerning credibility, ethical, and leadership issues that render both the promise and the promisor unworthy of serious consideration. Mathematically, Dr. Bawumia’s statement is just not feasible, and the life expectancy of Ghanaians deflates this ill-thought idea in the name of trying to win political power.

Why should a presidential candidate even consider offering Ghanaians a rapidly depreciating asset with a 125-year repayment period when the phone will become obsolete long before it is paid off?

This political promise also raises ethical concerns and gives false hopes to Ghanaians. The 2024 election cannot be an avenue to parade false hopes. How will people who live a long time even repay for the phone? Would they want to continue repaying when they stop using the phone? What will the value of GHS2 be in 10, 50, or 100 years when the buyer continues to pay the same amount? Who will bear the financial burdens in the event that a buyer passes away without repaying the full cost of the mobile phone?

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By making such a promise, Dr. Bawumia has proven that he has a leadership flaw. Leaders must plan and examine the practicability of whatever policies they want to use to win the votes of would-be voters. Ghanaian voters are discerning, and this will not pass any litmus test going into the 2024 general elections. The promise does not address the real needs and priorities of Ghanaians, such as improving healthcare, education, and employment opportunities. Dr. Bawumia must shoot down this promise by himself.

Writer: Wisdom Hammond

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