President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
• Ben Ephson says President Akufo-Addo won’t openly support a candidate
• He stated that he suffered the same thing in 2008
• President Akufo-Addo had already indicated that he will not support any of the candidates
Ben Ephson, the Managing Editor of the Daily Dispatch newspaper, has indicated that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, suffered from an incumbent president supporting a presidential candidate openly.
According to him, during the time he was contesting for the flagbearer race in 2008, the incumbent president then, J. A. Kufuor, did not support him openly, he [Akufo-Addo] will be the last person to do so.
“Basically, President Akufo-Addo suffered from an incumbent president openly supporting a candidate, that is between him and Alan Kyerematen in 2008. So, I think that President Akufo-Addo will be the last person to openly throw his heart into the ring for somebody,” Ephson explained on Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana.
As the NPP prepares to break the eight-year political cycle, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated categorically that he has no clear favourite within the candidates vying to lead the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).
He has rather promised to ensure a fair and level playing field for all NPP members that have the ambition to lead the party as a presidential candidate in the 2024 presidential election so as to help protect the unity, peace and progress of the party.
He also said the eventual successor as NPP flagbearer would have his unalloyed support to break the eight years jinx which the ruling NPP has christened ‘Breaking the 8’.
Furthermore, he also promised to allow the party’s rank and file across the country and even beyond, who he said are the real owners of the NPP, to freely elect their favourite candidates to lead the NPP during the December 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections.
“I don’t have any clear favourite within the NPP family to succeed me as President after I have duly completed my second term and left political office; in fact, I will work to ensure a level-playing field for all NPP members that want to become president,” the President said on Pure FM in Kumasi.
Many stalwarts of the party have started lacing their boots to lead the NPP in 2024 when the President completes his second and final term.
Notable among them are his Vice, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Trade and Industry Minister Alan Kyerematen, Agric Minister Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, former Railway Development Minister Joe Ghartey, former Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko, former Minister Kofi Konadu Aparku among others who are rumoured to be planning to enter the contest.