The New Patriotic Party (NPP) tradition, according to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, depends on the ideas of serious minds that have been tested and made workable, not on those of a single person.
He asserted that no one could persuade NPP members to act in a manner similar to sheep obeying their shepherds.
At a meeting on Wednesday, August 2, at the Jubilee House, he acknowledged to party communicators, “I accept and expect that there will always be argument amongst us as to the way forward.”
“That’s a no-no. That has always been the NPP tradition.
“I have said it many years ago and I repeat it. We are not a Kasapreko party [where] one person gets up, shares his thought and the rest follow like a sheep follow him. That has never been the NPP.
“We have always believed in argument and differences but at the end of the day we resolve these differences democratically where the majority or consensus moves us.”
President Akufo-Addo was reacting to reports that he has hijacked the upcoming Presidential Primaries of the NPP in favour of Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia – with whom he has partnered in the past four presidential elections.
There are reports that Dr Bawumia is the establishment candidate and has the full backing of Jubilee House, the seat of government.
President Akufo-Addo denied this and rather insists that though he has one vote for his preferred candidate just like any other delegate within the party, he has never cajoled any person to vote for a particular candidate amongst the 10.
We need to be honest about the claims made by some party members that the government is pressuring or manipulating them to support a specific presidential candidate. Such allegations of intimidation or coercion need to be addressed openly.
“The allegation is being made that government is putting its priority behind the Vice President. I want to say in very clear terms to you and to all that it is a false and malicious narrative. There is not a single truth to it.
“That’s why I can beat my chest to it and I can say without any fear or contradiction that there is no one in the party, there is not a single person in the NPP who can say that I have asked him or her to support this aspirant. I haven’t done it and I know why I haven’t done it.”
