Mahamudu Bawumia has gone from political outsider to Ghana’s number two – and in December he could make history as the country’s first Muslim president.

Bawumia, currently Ghana’s vice president, has been chosen by the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) as its candidate for the upcoming general elections.

The Tottenham Hotspur supporter, 61, has quite a reputation.

He’s an Oxford University-educated intellectual, never seen without his signature thin, rectangular glasses, and has been nicknamed “Mr. Digital” thanks to his promise to make Ghana a tech heavyweight.

But because he heads the government’s economic management team, many Ghanaians associate Bawumia with the cost of living crisis they are experiencing.

If Bawumia overcomes the criticism and wins the election, he will replace his current boss, President Nana Akufo-Addo, who is nearing the end of his two-term term.

“Mr Digital” burst onto the political scene in 2008, arousing perplexity and skepticism.

Bawumia was a 44-year-old who had never held public office, but Akufo-Addo – then a mere presidential candidate – had chosen him as his vice-presidential candidate.

Bawumia’s father, Alhaji, had served in Ghana’s first governments after the country gained independence from Britain in 1957, working closely with revered Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah.

But the young Bawumia had forged a career in economics and banking, as deputy governor of the central bank of Ghana.

To many commentators and NPP members, it made no sense for Akufo-Addo to choose Bawumia over senior party members.

Akufo-Addo ended up losing the election to John Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) by a tiny margin.

Bawumia lost the vice-presidential post – but his charismatic campaign silenced opponents.

“He started the campaign for the NPP. I don’t think anyone else could have done a better job, to be honest, in terms of the support he gave to the NPP,” said Ghanaian political scientist Dr Clement Sefa -Nyarko at the BBC. .

Akufo-Addo and Bawumia gave elections another chance in 2012. Again, they lost.

The NPP challenged the election results in the Supreme Court, choosing Bawumia as its main witness.

During the proceedings, which were broadcast on national television, Bawumia appeared witty and calm in the face of the incessant cross-examination which lasted several days.

“People were wondering: who is this guy? He is definitely the man to encourage,” said Dr Sefa-Nyarko, who teaches African leadership at King’s College London.

Akufo-Addo decided to keep Bawumia on his list and in 2016, in his third attempt at power, the NPP won with 51.3% of the vote. Bawumia eventually became vice president.

Bawumia’s journey to the top began in 1963, when he was born into a large family in the northern town of Tamale.

He was the 12th of his father’s 18 children.

After completing his primary and secondary education in Ghana, Bawumia moved to the United Kingdom for undergraduate studies and later earned a master’s degree in economics from the prestigious Oxford University.

To support himself while studying, he took jobs as a taxi driver and housekeeper.

He returned to Ghana in 2000 to work at the central bank, where he rose through the ranks to become deputy governor.

Bawumia campaigned on this economic savvy during his attempts to become vice president. Consequently, he faced heavy criticism when Ghana plunged into its most severe economic crisis in years under his leadership.

Inflation hit a record high of 54% in December 2022 and the country was forced to take out a $3 billion (£2.3 billion) loan from the International Monetary Fund after inflation soared. public debt.

Responding to criticism, Bawumia said the economic management team he led had no “decision-making powers” ​​and was only providing advice to the government.

But for many, that wasn’t enough.

“In terms of character, in terms of integrity, people started asking, ‘What is this? How did it end up here? We thought you were the best guy, and look where we’ve come,'” Franklin Cudjoe, a Ghanaian political commentator and director of the Imani Center for Politics and Education, told the BBC.

Alongside his role as an economist, Bawumia has also built a reputation as a digital visionary.

Ghana’s digital ecosystem has seen “significant growth”, particularly in areas such as mobile phone connectivity, Charles Abani, head of the UN team in Ghana, noted last month.

This “remarkable digital transformation” was “led” by Bawumia, an information site African affairs reported, while a Ghanaian newspaper The Chronicle praised Bawumia’s “expertise in global digital transformation.”

Bawumia said he initiated a partnership between the government of Ghana and the US company Zipline, which led to the creation of the largest vaccine distribution network in the world.

He said he contacted Zipline, which uses drones to transport health products to hard-to-reach clinics, after his father died from blood loss.

While this passion for technology is celebrated by some, others are more skeptical.

Mr Cudjoe said Bawumia was campaigning for digitalization rather than tackling debates over government’s management of the economy.

“Whether Bawumia was in power or not, digitalization was inevitable in this country because we had already started it anyway,” Mr Cudjoe said.

Dr Sefa-Nyarko said of Bawumia: “What he has done very successfully is to lobby and also claim full credit for the current government’s results on digitalisation. »

Bawumia’s personal life was also an asset in his presidential campaign. His wife of 20 years, Samira, is a former beauty queen widely admired for her chic outfits.

The Second Lady is also vocal on partisan politics – and has embarked on campaign tours for the NPP.

The couple have four children together. They are proud followers of Islam – a religion practiced by around one in five Ghanaians.

Most people in Ghana are Christian, but there is no evidence that being from a religious minority will hamper Bawumia’s electoral chances, Dr Sefa-Nyarko said.

The NPP gave its “full support” to Bawumia’s candidacy, “despite his Muslim faith”, Dr Sefa-Nyarko added.

“It could also result in widespread support across the country.”

Bawumia’s geographic identity may be more important than his religion. The vice president hails from northern Ghana, which constitutes one of the NDC’s strongest political bases.

By choosing Bawumia as its presidential candidate, the NPP hopes to make inroads in the north, while retaining support in its heartland in the south.

Bawumia has traveled the north, south, east and west in what he calls the “possibility bus”, a blue and red campaign vehicle emblazoned with the slogan “it’s possible”.

To some, he is the face of economic mismanagement, but the vice president retains some of the optimism he had when he was 44, embarking on an eight-year battle for power.

“I have the courage to accept when things don’t go as well as expected,” he told voters in his manifesto.

“But I also have a mentality of possibilities and a belief in ourselves that we can rise and achieve great things in our lifetime.”

Additional reporting by BBC’s Thomas Naadi in Accra