A former National Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akomea, has reacted to recent comments by Kennedy Agyapong in Mampong in the Ashanti Region and described the assertions as not true.
Mr Agyapong, a former Assin Central Member of Parliament and a presidential aspirant as part of his preparatory works towards Election 2028 ahead of the NPP’s presidential primary for that election had told some party members in Mampong that they should reflect on the current state of the party and be cautious against overlooking performance in decisions about leadership selection.
He was contributing to internal conversations over the party’s future and the implications of its recent electoral performance under Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the party’s 2024 flagbearer.
He argued that poor electoral performance should not be rewarded with another opportunity to lead the party into the next national election.
“Let no one be deceived,” Mr Agyapong said. “Our party has a history of rewarding strong candidates. If you lead us into an election and perform abysmally, you should not expect another chance.”
He challenged the view that the NPP has a culture of giving its presidential candidates multiple opportunities, stating that this only applies when the candidate’s first attempt demonstrates significant promise.
“In 1992, Prof. Adu Boahen, despite being a hero of our democratic struggle, was not given another opportunity after losing that election. He was a principled man who sacrificed for the country, yet the party moved on because performance matters,” Mr Agyapong asserted.
He contrasted that precedent with the experiences of former President John Agyekum Kufuor and current President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, both of whom were allowed to contest a second time after strong showings in their initial bids.
“Kufuor campaigned for barely a few months in 1996 and still made a remarkable impact. That performance earned him the trust of the party to try again in 2000—and he won. Nana Addo also showed electoral strength before getting a second chance,” he noted.
“The facts are there. If someone leads us to one of our worst electoral outcomes, we cannot pretend as if that didn’t happen. This is a serious political party. We don’t hand out leadership as a consolation prize,” he stated emphatically.
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But reacting to Mr Agyapong, Nana Akomea in a radio interview with Citi FM, which was monitored by Graphic Online on Wednesday evening said “many of the things my brother Kennedy said in Mampong are simply not true or they are not tenable.”
He disagreed with the assertion by Mr Agyapong that in 1996, former President Kufuor had only three months to campaign in the presidential election and that was why the NPP gave Kufuor a second chance in 1998.
Nana Akomea said that statement was not true and that 1996 Kufuor was elected at Legon in April 1996, which gave him a clear eight months before the elections.
He said the delegates in 1998 gave Kufuor a second chance because of the hard work he put in 1996 against Rawlings.
He said if the length of time to campaign available for a flagbearer was what was to be considered, then it was rather Prof Adu Boahen who had two months to campaign against Rawlings in 1992.
“Then Adu Boahen would have been selected again in 1996 instead of Kufuor but Kennedy Agyapong is saying that Ghanaians are saying that if the NPP brought he [Kennedy], the NPP will win the elections. I don’t know which Ghanaians are saying so, or which poll that had been done that shows so.
“And then he says that Bawumia lost the elections because of the religious factor, that the Christians simply did not want to vote for a Muslim. If you bring religion into this campaign it is a terrible mistake. What you are saying is that the Muslims do not have a stake in the party. What are you going to say to Muslims when you win the flagbearership?”
He said it is not in the interest of Ken Agyapong or anybody to be campaigning based on exclusion.
He said in any case Dr Bawumia did better in over 50 constituencies where the NPP parliamentary candidates were Christians.
And also the Prof Oquaye committee that the party set up, religion was not a key factor when party members appeared before the committee, he said.