Kwesi Kwarteng, spokesperson for New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer hopeful Kennedy Agyapong, has defended his candidate’s recent comments on leadership and performance within the party.
This follows remarks by Kennedy Agyapong during a meeting with party supporters in Mampong on June 7, 2025, where he argued that poor electoral performance should not warrant another opportunity to lead the party into the next general election.
Speaking on Citi Eyewitness News on Wednesday, June 11, Kwesi Kwarteng explained that Agyapong’s comments were made in response to an earlier statement by former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who referenced historical precedents involving former Presidents John Agyekum Kufuor and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo being given multiple opportunities to lead the NPP.
Kwarteng argued that Agyapong was merely reinforcing the NPP’s long-standing tradition of rewarding performance rather than sentiment as the party looks ahead to selecting a flagbearer for the 2028 elections.
“What Kennedy sought to do was to give a historical context to a statement that Dr Bawumia himself had already made in the public space. Recall, it was Dr Bawumia who advanced this argument, of course given the historical antecedent of the party and laid claim that President Kuffour was given the opportunity to go twice, and of course, President Akufo-Addo had the chance to go three times.
“When Kennedy met some of our party executives in Mampong, he felt that there was also an opportunity for him to throw broader light and put a very wide scope and proper context to what Dr Bawumia said. That is where he brought in that what Dr Bawumia said is true, but there has always been a caveat to that precedent, and that caveat is on performance,” he said.
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