By Bright Ntramah
President Akufo-Addo has rubbished claims that government machinery is supporting the candidature of the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia. Describing the allegations as false and malicious, President Akufo-Addo said he has not asked any member of the party to support the candidature of the Vice President.
Nana Akufo-Addo said his administration has not and will not intimidate any member of government who will support any of the ten candidates vying for the flag-bearership race.
“No Minister or Deputy Minister has lost their job or been threatened for openly campaigning for their preferred presidential aspirant; neither has any caveat emanated from Jubilee House to the Party across the length and breadth of the country demanding that Candidate A be supported over Candidate B. I, better than anyone in the Party, know that this is not the way to go,” he stated.
Addressing NPP party communicators at the Jubilee House, President Akufo-Addo said his priority is for the NPP to have a clear majority in Parliament and the candidate of the NPP winning the Presidential elections in 2024, thereby breaking the eight year cycle.
He said he has not dismissed any member of government for supporting other candidates. He said the tradition of the NPP does not allow the President to impose a candidate on the party.
“The history of the NPP tells us that no President can foist a candidate on the Party against its wishes. The NPP is not that kind of Party. We have never subscribed to a cult of personality. Indeed, our highly-respected former President, the 1st NPP President, His Excellency John Agyekum Kufuor, in the aftermath of my election as NPP Presidential Candidate, by the 2007 National Congress, told the Congress that ‘the Party has its spirit’, a spirit that cannot be ignored. The candidate that will be elected to lead the NPP WILL BE elected by the Party.”
In a response to an appeal by the NPP Director of Communications, Richard Ahiagbah, in relation to the Party’s conduct in next year’s election, President Akufo-Addo stated that the Party cannot afford to allow what happened to it in 2008 to reoccur in 2024.
“We are all witnesses to the derailing of the achievements chalked up by President John Agyekum Kufuor by the successor NDC Government, from 2009 to 2017, in which John Dramani Mahama featured so prominently,” the President noted.
President Akufo-Addo noted that some actions by a few members of the party are making the front pages for the wrong reasons.
“We are expending some of our energies hurling invectives at each other instead of at our opponents and, in the process, taking digs at our own Government. It has been an anxious time for all who love our party and who see us as the party that can bring progress and prosperity to our nation,” he said.