NPP Presidential Race: 102 MPs endorse Bawumia?

• Posted on February 17, 2023February 17, 2023
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Over two-thirds of the Majority Caucus members of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Parliament have overwhelmingly thrown their weights behind Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, to become the next flagbearer of the party going into the 2024 general elections.

Information gathered by DAILY GUIDE indicates that over 102 out of the NPP’s 138 MPs strongly believed that Dr. Bawumia is the rightful person to succeed President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo if the party is to break the eight-year jinx of a single party in government since the inception of the Second Republic.

MP for Sefwi Akotombra and a former Deputy Minister of Western North, Alex Tetteh Djornobuah, made the audacious disclosure in an interview on Accra-based Peace FM while commenting on a survey report which put Dr. Bawumia far ahead of his other competitors in the NPP presidential race.

The Alan Kyerematen camp has already rubbished the poll results which gave the Vice President overwhelming lead, in all the 16 regions of the country.

According to Mr. Djornobuah, the Vice President possesses all the qualities to lead the party to set a new record by breaking the eight-year cycle of two consecutive political terms of parties in the country’s political history.

“This survey conducted is correct because the Vice President has been endorsed by 102 MPs so far. The MPs believe that Dr. Bawumia is the best bet to lead the party, and I have no doubt in my mind that he will emerge victorious,” he said.

The Sefwi Akontombra MP dropped a hint that all the MPs canvassing support for the Vice President will soon come forward to unveil the cloak of anonymity for the public to know and recognise them.

“We’ll be addressing a press conference to declare our support as MPs for the Vice President very soon. Dr. Bawumia is a Vice President who has shown majority and capability that he is the only person who can lead the NPP to break the eight,” he disclosed.

Touching on the delegates, Mr. Djornobuah mentioned that about 80 per cent of the delegates would vote for the Vice President.

“I know and believe that Western North, we’ll not disappoint the Vice President because it is time for us to reciprocate what he has done for us. And if we want more of such development then we need to vote for the Vice President,” he added.

The lawmaker pointed out that Dr. Bawumia is the right person to battle former President John Dramani Mahama in the Northern regions, adding that “with the support of our strongholds in Ashanti, Eastern and other regions, we can break the eight.”

He mentioned that the ruling NPP government has done marvelously well considering the challenges confronting nations across the world as a result of COVID-19 pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, yet the government is still embarking on infrastructure development, sustaining social intervention programmes such as Free Senior High School (FSHS), One District One Factory (1D1F) among others without Ghanaians experiencing power crisis unlike under the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC).

He, however, admitted that the NPP has made some mistakes in terms of governance, but was quick to add that Ghanaians are safer under NPP than NDC in terms of hardship.

The declaration is coming after about 40 of the MPs and the NPP General Secretary, Justin Kodua Frimpong, accompanied the Vice President to the funeral of Lepowura Alhaji Mohammed Nuru-Deen Jawula, who was a stalwart of the party.

Vice President Bawumia and his entourage rode in a bus for about two hours from Tamale to Salaga in the Savannah Region to attend the solemn ceremony.

One of the MPs, Kofi Okyere-Agyekum, representing the people of Fanteakwa South in the Eastern Region confirmed that more than 100 of their colleagues fully endorse the Vice President to lead the party to victory in the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections.

“We believe that it is Dr. Bawumia who can lead NPP to ‘break the 8’ in 2024. He is a gentleman, very intelligent and a highly competent personality who will be loved and supported by NPP faithful for us to retain power in 2024,” Mr. Okyere-Agyekum, who is a Ranking Member on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament told Movement TV and Wontumi Radio in Accra.

The governing NPP is working tirelessly to be maintained in power for more than eight years to break the jinx of successive political parties winning and losing elections after eight years.

At least eight NPP stalwarts have so far declared their intentions to contest in the governing party’s presidential primaries, which will be held hopefully before the end of the year.

By Vincent Kubi