A political activist, Dr Arthur Kennedy, has asked supporters of the Energy Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, the running mate to the New Patriotic Party’s presidential candidate in the 2024 elections to acknowledge his shortcomings and faults.
According to him, attempting to downplay the public’s concerns is not the prudent route.
Since NPP’s Presidential Candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia selected Dr Prempeh as his running mate, a section of Ghanaians have raised concerns about his attitude with many accusing him of being arrogant.
A popular remark referenced is when he challenged individuals advocating for the issuance of a load-shedding timetable to publish their own proposed schedules amid the power crisis earlier this year.
Another was his statement in 2021 in which he threatened to lead a demonstration in the Ashanti Region should the Keta Sea Defence Project be captured in the 2022 Budget.
Nonetheless, some supporters of NPP have downplayed the accusation of arrogance and touted Dr Prempeh as a blunt individual.
Contributing to the topic, “Napo for 2024 Veep Job: Why the ‘Arrogance’ Tag?’ on Joy FM’s Newsfile, Dr Kennedy believed that the Energy Minister’s remarks were out of place and shouldn’t be whitewashed.
He noted that Dr Prempeh’s tag of arrogance, echoes sentiments from past incidents.
“Napo shouldn’t have made the remark that he made both in relation to the dumsor timetable and in relation to the Keta Sea Defence Project. I am very sure that knowing Napo, in his quiet moments he would wish he had those words back,” he said on Saturday.
On the back of this, Dr Kennedy emphasised the importance of recognising these criticisms and urged the Energy Minister’s supporters to acknowledge the validity of the concerns.
“Those who want to support him must not try and pretend that those who are making these charges that he is arrogant are ignorant. We are all complex people and we all have faults. Those are some of Napo’s faults, but he has his strengths,” he told host Samson Lardy Anyenini.
Dr Kennedy also advised that the NPP balance their approach in promoting the newly-named running mate.
“I think that those who promote him must not only tell us of his strengths but acknowledge that some of these things that he has said and done were not done the best way possible and that they would counsel him to do better,” he noted.
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