A former Director of Communications of the governing New Patriotic Party, NPP, Nana Akomea, has asked the party to halt its planned presidential primaries and convince Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and Alan Kyerematen to run together in the 2024 presidential election.
The two are expected to contest against each other for the first time in a keen contest. Although this will be the Vice President, Dr. Bawumia’s first attempt, Mr. Kyerematen, the current Trade, and Industry Minister, has contested against Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo thrice before he was elected President in 2016.
According to Nana Akomea, the two leading candidates in the NPP presidential race meet the requirements of the north and south balance, and so taking advantage of that to allow them to run, will prevent a rancorous contest.
“The party should be able to have a consensus and have the two leading candidates, run together. For a very simple reason, for the first time, the two leading candidates satisfy the North-South divide. If Alan won, he is most likely to choose a candidate from the North, if Bawumia won, he is most likely to choose a candidate from the South. It is going to resolve an acrimonious situation that the party may not be able to recover from.”
“I would want a certain consensus to be built within the party to have the two of them run together. As to who becomes running mate, we should leave it to them once the party feels that is the way should go.”
Asked about the decision on who leads and who becomes the running mate, Nana Akomea said that confusion can be settled by the two if they agree to the idea of running together.
Nana Akomea has also called on the election management committee to ensure the irregularities and violence that characterized the polling station level polls are not repeated in the constituency elections slated to begin on April 28.
“I am hoping that those in charge have taken notice of the difficulties in the polling station elections, and ensure that the difficulties at the regional and national levels are minimized.”
