President Akufo-Addo
President Akufo-Addo has sent a strong warning to all those who are planning to lead the NPP’s ticket in the 2024 Presidential Election, not to dare derail the efforts of the party on whose ticket they will be standing.
According to NPP General Secretary John Boadu, the President who has just started his second and final term in office, is not happy about the way the aspirants have started jostling for recognition when the bulk of the work that will help to position the party well ahead of the 2024 contest is yet to be done.
The party will go into the 2024 election with a new flag bearer when President Akufo-Addo is bowing out, as the constitution dictates, after two terms.
The NPP General Secretary said that the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party would soon meet to take a strong position on developments regarding the party’s 2024 flag bearer contest, which he described as completely backward, unproductive and distractive.
He said the President was concerned about the way the aspirants who are mostly ministers, have switched into campaign mood when their work as ministers are being left behind, and said the President expressed his readiness to crack the whip to bring sanity into the government.
He said when the National Executives toured the regions to review the performance of the party in the just-ended general election, almost every party member they met expressed concerns about the activities of the flag bearers and said the President is also aware about the disturbing issue.
The grassroots of the party have expressed their disaffection at the conduct of some leading members of the party with presidential ambitions, who are said to be engaged in some covert maneuverings towards bringing their ambitions into fruition, John Boadu said.
He said the issue of smear campaign by supporters of some of the aspirants on social media platforms in particular was not helping the party and the grassroots, and urged the leadership of the party to take immediate steps to arrest the situation before it gets out of hand.
John Boadu said that “the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) is scheduled to meet very soon to deliberate on developments regarding the 2024 flag bearer contest, and would most definitely, take a strong position on the matter in order to ensure that every member of the party regardless of their status is called to order. The party is much bigger than the individual ambitions of its leading members.”
He said “we have not even reached the stage where the party is considering guidelines or rules and regulations for the 2024 flag bearer contest, which is three years away per the party’s constitution. It is therefore way too early for anybody having ambition to contest in the 2024 flag bearer race to make public such ambitions, because time is just not rife.”
John Boadu proceeded to remind members of the party that the party’s current interest and preoccupation, is to concern itself on how it can help the yet to be fully constituted Akufo-Addo government deliver on its second term mandate to the Ghanaian people, and not matters of who should succeed President Akufo-Addo.
“We just won the 2020 elections, and the President is still in the process of forming his government with the appointment of ministers, deputies, CEOs and governing boards of the various state institutions, for us to start implementing our campaign promises. Our victory in 2024 will, by all means, be dependent on how this yet to be constituted second-term Akufo-Addo-led government performs,” he said, adding, “So, why are we rushing to look for a successor for the President when he hasn’t even finished forming his government? We, as leaders of the party, won’t allow such backwardness and distractions,” John Boadu stressed, receiving thunderous applause from his audience.
By Ernest Kofi Adu