A political analyst, Dr. Jonathan Ashanti Okyere, has asserted that the notion of the President of the Republic, Nana Addo, supporting the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, in the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) flagbearer race is to avoid internal checks and accountability.
According to him, “It is about the internal control of the party; to keep Dr.Bawumia as the next leader of the party would mean that there wouldn’t be any internal checks and accountability to the party; it would just mean a continuation of the style of Akufo Addo, but to make Alan or Kennedy win, there will be checks, and they will call the bluff of him,” he stated.
Dr. Ashanti indicated that there are two factions in the NPP, and all of them are making attempts to control the soul of the party, which is leading to internal wrangling.
“You don’t expect Akufo Addo to support Alan, though he said it some 15 years ago that when it was his time he would support him, but now it is no longer Alan and Dr. Bawumia; it is about two factions now, the Kufour faction and the Akufo Addo faction, and by extension the Ashanti fraternity and the Achim fraternity within the party,” he noted.
“Those factions are struggling to control the majority of the party; therefore, to support Alan will mean that you are going back to the Ashanti fraternity. Dr. Bawumia is neither here nor there, but he is just a pawn in the equation. If Kufour had supported Aliu Mahama, he would have performed far better than he did, but he supported Alan from nowhere,” he said.
He also indicated that Alan’s withdrawal from the contest was long overdue following his abysmal performance in the Ashanti Region, which is perceived to be his stronghold, and the country at large.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Gilbert Azeem Tiroog|Ghana