Bawumia’s ‘army of Ashanti MPs’ are protected, why dismiss others? – Pratt on NPP internal polls

The party is gearing up for key national and flagbearership polls

Supporters aligned to Alan Kyerematen suspended for breaching rules <>

Kwesi Pratt Jnr, the Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper, has accused the ruling New Patriotic Party, NPP, of favouring some candidates over others in its decisions relative to support for purported presidential aspirants.

In comments that looked to suggest that Vice President Mahammudu Bawumia had become the beneficiary of an unfair application of the party rules, he questioned why supporters of other aspirants were punished with suspension and dismissals but Bawumia’s backers were ‘absolved.’

“It has gotten so bizarre because everybody is campaigning. There are people who are campaigning for the Vice President, there are people who are campaigning for Mr Alan Kyerematen, Boakye Agyarko, they are all known.

“So, how come some people when they support some people they are dismissed. Other people when they support others, they are not dismissed? How come?” Pratt quizzed on the January 13, 2022 edition of Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana programme.

He cited the NPP’s November 2021 conference where he observed that Bawumia’s supporters who he described as an army of Ashanti MPs had walked him into the venue and gone on to openly support his yet-to-be declared bid but that they had all ‘escaped’ punishment.

“If you look at what happened in Kumasi, the conference or congress of the New Patriotic Party, it speaks volumes. There are some who are saying that the sitting Vice President is benefitting from incumbency, I think that is false.

“Because if you look at what happened in Kumasi, he was followed by an army of Ashanti MPs, how is that related to incumbency?

“And then after following him… some of them actually made public statements to the extent that the sitting VP has won Ashanti, that the fact that he is followed by Ashanti MPs mean he has won Ashanti.

“At the same conference, Boakye Agyarko and supporters stopped. We are still not clear why Alan was absent there, there are stories out there.

“All of this does not convey the picture of a level playing field. That there is some sort of manipulation intended to favour one particular candidate and I think it is unfair,” he stressed for NPP which he described as a public organization seeking power and to the extent that the party can win elections and become managers of lives and future of Ghanaians.

President Akufo-Addo is in his second and final term of office and the NPP is gearing up to elect a candidate for the 2024 Presidential elections.

Akufo-Addo is on record to have warned all aspirants to desist from allowing their aspirations to negatively impact the delivery of the government’s mandate.