The office of the second gentleman of the land has rejected claims that Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has a second wife called Ramatu.

A statement signed by Gideon Boako, Bawumia’s spokesperson, insisted that his boss has “only one wife, his dear Samira Bawumia and they have been married for 17 years even though his religion permits him to marry up to four wives”.

“We ask the public to ignore the propaganda and deliberate falsehood,” the statement issued on Friday, March 12, 2021, urged.

Genesis of the Ramatu story
The purported Ramatu story came to the fore when the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin mistakenly mentioned it during the investiture of inaugural ceremony of President Akufo-Addo on January 7, 2021.

Mr. Bagbin mistakenly mentioned Ramatu as the wife of the Vice President instead of Samira Bawumia.

After realising the mistake, Mr. Bagbin corrected the wrong impression he had created.

Some media platforms subsequently carried stories claiming the Vice President had a second wife.

Again, the Minority in Parliament during the State of the Nation Address on March 9, 2021, chanted the name Ramatu when the Speaker of Parliament was about to introduce Samira Bawumia as part of the dignitaries who graced the occasion.

Alban Bagbin on the said day rebuked the Minority for such action.

The Office of Bawumia in the statement explained that such a narrative was created to tarnish the image of the Vice President.

“The attention of the Vice President has been drawn to stories and pictures circulating of a woman supposedly named ‘Ramatu’ who is being claimed as wife of the Vice President.”

“The office of the Vice President wishes to inform the general public that the Vice President Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has never met or seen this purported Ramatu let alone take her as a wife. She is a figment of the imagination of people trying to hard tarnish the image of the Vice President for their own purposes,” the statement added.