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The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has set November 4, 2023, as the date for its presidential primaries to select a flagbearer for the general elections in 2024. The party has also announced that parliamentary primaries will be held in February 2024.
In addition, the National Council has barred National, Regional, and Constituency Party Executives and MMDCEs from contesting in constituencies where the party has sitting Members of Parliament.
Reacting to this, Apostle Paul Kofi Agyekum, a political analyst has said that the NPP as a ruling political party should have conducted its primaries earlier than the opposition party to help the flagbearer get some more time to propagate his policies and visions to Ghanaians.
Speaking in an interview with Kwaku Mensah Avrampa on High Radio, Apostle Agyekum indicated that the country as it stands now is in critical conditions where all things seem not to be running as expected by Ghanaians hence NPP in their quest to break the 8 should have held their primaries earlier than the NDC so that the flagbearer can reach out to Ghanaians with best policies because any candidate who campaigns with the credibility of Nana Akufo Addo will woefully lose in the general elections. After all, the continuous blame for covid 19 and Russia- Ukraine at the expense of their mismanagement will drag the party back despite their eagerness to break the eight jinx in the country’s election dispensation.
Apostle Agyekum stressed that the Glory days of NPP are tapering off, stating the legacies of former president Kuffour and his party executives about how matters within the party were organized that guaranteed his success in his two terms election runs which also gave the hope and opportunity to Akufo Addo who eventually won the primaries and subsequently became the president.
He indicated that the first term of Akufo Addo’s governance saw a successful run of affairs but the second term has become so poor with blame games on Covid and the war in Ukraine adding that the newly elected executives should have also supported the brand and beliefs of the party by ensuring the systems within the party are well structured but doing things on the contrary which according to him denotes their unreadiness to break the 8 as they claim.
Lastly, Apostle Agyekum bemoaned how politicians come out with clear conscience when they are campaigning for power and behave otherwise when they win power.
He stressed that the decision by the party executives to bar National, Regional, and Constituency Party Executives and MMDCEs from contesting in constituencies where the party has sitting Members of Parliament frown on the democracy being practiced in the country and described it as an unfortunate and autocratic practice which shows the party is not ready for power.
Story By: Kwaku Mensah Abrampa (High Radio – Bechem)