For the poor performance of two of the four flag bearer aspirants of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the current administration, Prof. Kobby Mensah thinks the party is not presenting stronger candidates in this year’s primary.
He says Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto have both tainted their political goodwill following their poor performance as Vice President and Minister of Agriculture respectively.
The Political Marketing Strategist has therefore doubted the ability of the duo to lead the party should any of them be elected flag bearer.
Rating and comparing the four candidates to previous aspirants, Prof. Kobby Mensah said the NPP is “for the first time, presenting very weak candidates.”
He berated the Ghanaian economy which is not in good shape under the Vice President.
“Economic management has been in shambles, and I’m surprised that they are trying to tout Dr. Bawumia’s credentials,” he said on Accra-based JoyNews
The Political Strategist further criticised Dr. Bawumia for his deafening silence on economic matters since the country’s financial crisis began, noting, “I have never heard him [Dr. Bawumia] speak about the economy since the economy started plummeting.”
“Let us be frank, whenever they have spoken, they’ve attributed our economic woes to Ukraine and Covid-19 but everybody knows that they have mismanaged the economy,” he added.
Speaking on Dr Afriyie Akoto, Prof. Mensah questioned how the fared under his leadership.
He specifically cited the “Planting for Food and Jobs” programme, saying the initiative was in “shambles.”
Prof Mensah said the former Agric Minister only adopted a “knee-jerk”, approach to issues which did not yield significant results.
Meanwhile, a former National Organiser of the party, Sammy Awuku, speaking on the show vehemently rejected the assertion saying the opposition National Democratic Congress presented much worse candidates during their presidential primary but he did not hear the Professor making similar comments.
In his response, Mr Awuku highlighted the qualifications attained by the two contenders and believed that when given the mandate they would deliver accordingly.
The governing party is preparing to select its flagbearer this weekend. Delegates are to decide whether the Vice President, Dr Afriyie Akoto, Kennedy Agyapong and Francis Addai-Nimoh will be on the ticket of the party in 2024.
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