Vice President and flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has reportedly selected Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, the Minister of Energy, as his running mate for the 2024 general elections.
According to JoyNews’ Presidential Affairs correspondent, Elton Brobbey, a meeting took place at the Jubilee House in Accra where Vice President Dr Bawumia presented his choice President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Elton Brobbey clarified that President Akufo-Addo offered some advice and shared his thoughts but eventually accepted Dr Bawumia’s choice. He stated that the chosen candidate is a 56-year-old medical doctor who graduated from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
“He was first elected to Parliament in 2008 and won re-election in 2012, 2016, and 2020. He served on the Health Appointment and Defence and Interior Committees of Parliament. In 2017, President Akufo-Addo appointed him Education Minister and he now serves as the Energy Minister. The name is Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, also known as NAPO,” he said.
This news has generated a lot of conversation around Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh and his competencies and utterances ahead of the formal announcement. Dr Prempeh, who is popularly known as Napo, has over the years involved himself in controversy with some statements he has made.
Here are four statements the Energy Minister and the Member of Parliament for Manhyia has made in the past that have courted controversy:
1 . “Go and do your dumsor timetable if you want one”
Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh refuted the suggestion that Ghana has returned to the days of power crisis popularly known as dumsor.
He said the current power outages in the country cannot be classified as the dumsor that happened under the NDC administration. Speaking at the inauguration of the NPP campaign team in the Ashanti Region, Dr Opoku Prempeh assured the public that efforts are underway to address the challenges.
He therefore asked Ghanaians to do their own ‘dumsor’ timetable if they wanted one. He told journalists: “Ask those who want it to bring it, if there is. I haven’t seen any timetable.”
His remarks sparked widespread public criticism. Sammy Gyamfi, the National Communications Officer of the NDC, strongly rebuked Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh for his stance on allocating resources for the victims of the Keta tidal waves.
Gyamfi labelled Napo’s comments as insensitive, questioning how someone paid with taxpayers’ money could make such statements.
Additionally, MP for Ketu South, Abla Dzifa Gomashie, condemned Napo’s remarks on funding for addressing the recent Keta tidal waves, denouncing them as bigoted and tribalistic.
Edward Bawa, a member of Parliament’s Mines and Energy Committee, voiced disappointment over Dr Prempeh’s comments regarding the necessity of a load-shedding timetable by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
2 . “SHS students should use rubber bags to defecate”
Dr Prempeh also addressed the issue of the lack of toilets in some senior high schools under the Free SHS programme on November 30, 2017, and stated that students can use rubber bags to defecate.
Dr Prempeh, answering a question on the lack of toilet facilities in some schools under the Free SHS educational policy, said: “There are few schools still in Ghana here that are secondary schools that had no toilets; that is not the result of free SHS. So when you see students portraying that somebody says I do it in a rubber bag and I walk 45 minutes, at least you have the rubber bag.”
He also challenged political critics to name secondary schools that are congested because of the Free SHS education policy.
3 . “No budget for victims of Keta tidal waves”
The Manhyia South Member of Parliament made a controversial statement regarding the inclusion of allocations for victims of the Keta tidal waves in the 2022 Budget.
He expressed the view that such allocations were unnecessary, citing similar challenges faced by his constituents in the past without government intervention. Consequently, he saw no justification for the Finance Minister to allocate funds for the Keta tidal wave victims.
Dr Opoku Prempeh went on to question the rationale behind the National Democratic Congress (NDC) advocating for government assistance for their stronghold to be included in the budget estimates.
4 . “NPP members just need t-shirts to vote”
Napo’s controversy originated from a campaign platform event in Kumawu, where he was captured on tape addressing party supporters.
In the viral video, he assured them that the Ashanti Region, a stronghold of the NPP, would continue to vote for the party, emphasising that the distribution of NPP T-shirts would be sufficient to secure their support.
Napo’s remarks stirred debate and raised concerns about the party’s approach to voter engagement.
“If we cannot organise campaign rallies, let’s use our money to print T-shirts and distribute them to our party faithful and everyone – after all, our NPP T-shirts are beautiful, and I don’t think anybody will be wearing them and go and vote for another party,” he stated.
However, the spokesperson for Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Kofi Abrefa Afena, appealed to the general public to ignore deliberate distortions of Dr. Prempeh’s comment on the need to distribute New Patriotic Party (NPP) branded T-shirts to voters in the Ashanti Region during the 2020 electioneering campaign.
pulse.com.gh
