The 2024 presidential election has nothing to do with tribe, General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Franklin Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, has insisted.
His comments comes on the back of news making the airwaves that the flag bearer of the NPP has presented Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh as his running mate, largely because he is from the Ashanti Region.
After the Vice President asked for time extension to make further consultations in selecting his running mate, calls have come for the candidate to be selected from the Ashanti region, due to the polity being the NPP’s stronghold.
Media General’s presidential correspondent, Nana Kwaku Adua had reported that the flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has presented Energy Minister and Manhyia South lawmaker, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, as his running mate for the 2024 presidential election.
“NPP flag bearer Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia last night met President Akufo-Addo to formally inform him about his choice for running mate, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh.
“He will meet the Council of Elders to formally inform them about his choice by the close of the week, the announcement is likely to be made close of the week or early next month,” Nana Adua reported Wednesday, June 26, 2024 on TV3’s News Central.
The news comes at a time when a survey purported to be coming from the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB), tipped Dr. Opoku Prempeh to be the running mate to Dr. Bawumia.
The survey engaged 5,116 NPP delegates nationwide, including national, regional, constituency, and polling station executives.
According to the poll, Dr. Opoku Prempeh secured 76% more than the next person who was preferred by the party people, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, the Minister of Education who served as deputy under Opoku Prempeh in Akufo-Addo’s first term.
But according to Fifi Kwetey, if the NPP thinks it is someone’s tribe that wins an election, then President Kufuor wouldn’t have lost an election in Ghana.
In a yet to be aired interview with Keminni Amanor on TV3’s Hot issues Sunday, June 30, 2024, the NDC General Secretary noted that the people of the Ashanti Region are equally feeling the hardship in the country and would not say because the Energy Minister is from the region, they are voting for Bawumia without recourse to their living conditions.
“And it’s not also an issue of tribe. Do you actually think that the people in the Ashanti Region are not feeling what I call the massive suffering that is gong on in this country. Their businesses are not collapsing? I mean their sufferings have not exacerbated? I think we should actually credit the people of the Ashanti Region just as we should credit everybody in this country that they absolutely know what is going on in Ghana.
“So, simply because you’ve chosen somebody who is coming from Ashanti, does not take away what they’ve gone through the last 8 years. The massive suffering, massive disappointment, massive breakdown of law and order, they also are feeling it. They are going to the market like everybody else, so, I don’t think at all we need to think that way.
“After all, if it was as simple as that, then President Kufuor would not have lost an election because he was an Ashanti, he was a flag bearer but he lost an election in Ghana,” he stated.
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