A former New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Ablekuma Central constituency, Ebenezer Nartey, has told Franklin Cudjoe, founding President of IMANI Africa, that the party does not need his advice on how to win the 2024 election.
Earlier this week, Mr Cudjoe asked the NPP to devise ways of addressing the country’s economic problems rather than focusing on the election of a northerner in the person of Dr Mahamudu Bawumia as flagbearer.
He warned the party not to rely on Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s northern roots ahead of the 2024 elections because the flagbearers of both the NPP and the NDC are northerners, and so their chances will be dependent which of the two is capable of improving their livelihood when elected as president.
But responding to the issue on Joy Prime’s Prime Morning on Monday, the former Ablekuma Central MP said the NPP does not need Mr Cudjoe’s advice to win the upcoming elections.
Mr Nartey accused the IMANI President of failing to condemn similar tribal comments made by the NDC’s John Mahama in the past.
“Did he make the same statement when Mahama said that we would use Bawumia and dump him? Did he condemn Mahama at that time? Or was he not in the country at that time? Or was he not the chairman of IMANI? We’ll not take his advice; he should take it. We don’t need his advice. If he had any advice, he should go and advise Mahama because he started it, and we’ll also follow,” Mr. Nartey asserted.
Unlike the former Ablekuma Central MP, Bernard Mornah, the former PNC chairman and convener of AriseGhana, who also spoke on the show, backed Mr Cudjoe’s position.
Mr Mornah was of the view that, the IMANI Africa President is right to have called on the NPP to desist from tribalism campaigns, considering the fact that both candidates are from different tribes of the north.
“I will think that he is the Franklin that we all know. He’s saying that it becomes a threat and that if you decide to play the tribal card, you may injure yourselves, so find a way to desist from it. I am of northern extraction, so if you go and start playing the tribal cards, Bawumia is a Mamprusi, and Mahama is a Gonja, by extension, a Guan. So, are you playing tribal cards there?”he quizzed.
Dr. Bawumia amassed a huge number of over 10,000 votes from the five northern regions, contributing to his win in the just-ended NPP presidential primaries over his contenders.
Days after his victory, notable members of the party have suggested that Dr Bawumia will win the northern regions in next year’s election.