Aspiring flagbearer of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, has cautioned executives of the party not to attempt to force their preferred presidential candidate on the party.
According to him, all flagbearer aspirants must be given an equal chance to campaign and be elected by the NPP delegates on their merit.
His comments follow suggestions by some NPP members that Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia should be given the nod to replace President Nana Addo Akufo-Addo for the 2024 elections.
But speaking on the Citi FM, the former Press Secretary to former President John Kufuor said nobody deserves preferential treatment in the flagbearership race.
“Nobody is denying him [Dr Bawumia] his chance to contest, just that we in the NPP, we have a way of doing things. He just has to go around and talk to the party people and hope that he wins. But to try and force a coronation on us, that won’t happen. There would be no coronation in the NPP,” Mr Agyepong told host Bernard Avle.
Mr Agyepong also rejected assertions that the NPP only uses people from the Northern Region for votes but fails to give them a shot at the presidency.
According to him, the NPP had to bypass their rules and constitution to make Dr Bawumia the running mate of then-candidate Akufo-Addo.
“The party has a constitution, rules and regulations, you can’t even get on the ticket if you have not demonstrated membership for five years, but the party took a decision for Ohene Ntow to waive that [for Dr Bawumia], create a card [for him] and on that day he become a number two. It has never happened anywhere but [we did that] because of the respect that we had for candidate Akufo-Addo. So if you have been done such a big waiver, and you have served as Vice President and you consider that as using and dumping, whoever says that should stop that kind of talk. I don’t want to hear that.”
Mr Agyepong is confident of his chances of being elected to represent the governing party for the 2024 presidential election.
He believes that his message resonates “very strongly with Ghanaians.”
“I am the one who is known better in the party, my roots are deeper in this party than most. And I am very confident of what I am doing.”
He, however, admitted that the journey won’t be a walk in the park, and is willing to give it his best shot.
”Of course, we don’t take anything for granted in this elation. I respect the sanctity of our electoral system and I do believe that Ghanaians will not mortgage their future. They will listen to us, evaluate us and will be able to make a choice,” adding that Ghana is better off having some ministries consolidated.
He said not only will this be economical but will go a long way to send a strong moral message to Ghanaians that leadership is indeed tightening its belt and is serious about working towards attaining economic recovery.
“Ghana’s government is too big, and I have said this a long time ago, I think it has become a bit more fashionable for other people to say. As far back as 2015 when I was General Secretary of the NPP, I said that the framers of the constitution did not put in the 19 limits for cabinet ministers for nothing, they were giving us an idea of the size of government.”