Majority Leader tells NPP MPs to back Napo, Bawumia’s running mate choice
Afenyo Markin informed his colleagues after a meeting he and the leadership of the Majority Caucus had with the Vice President
Majority Leader and member of Parliament (MP) for Effutu constituency in the Central Region, Alexander Afenyo Markin has officially informed the Majority Caucus in Parliament of the decision of Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice President and presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP), to nominate MP for Manhyia South and Minister for Energy, Matthew Opoku Prempeh (Napo) as his running mate for the 7 December 2024 general elections.
Afenyo Markin informed his colleagues after what he says is a meeting he and the leadership of the Majority Caucus had with the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia at his official residence today, Friday, 28 June 2024.
Announcement by Majority Leader
The Majority Leader also hinted that the NPP leader and 2024 presidential candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia will present his choice to the National Council at their meeting scheduled for Tuesday, 2 July 2024 as required by the NPP’s constitution.
“Colleagues, our flag bearer invited leadership into a meeting at his residence this afternoon to discuss party matters. He informed us of his decision to partner Napo as his running mate.
“He has directed me to inform the Caucus of this decision and prays for the support of the Caucus in arriving at a final decision next week Tuesday at the National Council [meeting].
“Information is accordingly conveyed. On behalf of the Caucus, I congratulate our brother Napo in advance,” Afenyo Markin’s message to the Majority Caucus read.
Speculations
This development is the clearest indication of the decision of Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia to partner with Matthew Opoku Prempeh (Napo) for the 9th presidential and parliamentary elections under the 4th Republican constitution which came into force on 7 January 1993.
The choice of Napo has been widely publicised in mainstream and social media throughout this week. The speculation that Napo had been named as the running mate to Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has received its first share of acceptance and criticism within the rank and file of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Polls
Several polls that have been conducted by various institutions and individuals have all put Napo ahead of all other persons whose names came up as potential running mates to Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
Napo emerged as the preferred person to partner with the vice-president and presidential candidate of the NPP in the 7 December 2024 general election in the most recent study carried out by the Danquah Institute (DI). The Danquah Institute poll was carried out in the second week of June 2024.
A hybrid technique (virtual and face-to-face interviews) was used to conduct a nationwide survey involving 1,569 respondents. Sampling, however, was not extended to the general electorate. Telephone interviews were conducted for all national, all regional and a majority of constituency executives.
Findings
Even though the running mate position is not a contested slot, the race to be recognised as this year’s choice for the NPP has been unprecedented in intensity.
The DI study found that across almost all levels of the party, Napo (Dr Opoku Prempeh) is the preferred choice for running mate. Interestingly, nearly all the respondents also said that they would be willing to work with Dr Bawumia’s choice even if their preferred choice is not considered.
Party executives across all levels believe that the running mate should be a male and ought to be selected from the Ashanti Region. The individual should also be a resourceful, grass-roots person, and should also have served the party for a reasonable period.
In addition, and very importantly, the individual must be humble, approachable, generous, objective and transparent in his/her dealings with all, inside and outside the party. The person must be willing to work with the presidential candidate and to support the vision and ideas of the flagbearer.
The DI survey first posed the following question: “Who do you prefer – male or female – as the running mate?” Eighty-four per cent of respondents said that they prefer a male, 5.7% chose a female and 9.8% said they were indifferent about the gender of the NPP candidate running.
On the preferred region for the running mate to be chosen, a large majority of respondents – 83.9% – said they prefer a running mate from the Ashanti Region, while 8.4% of those surveyed said they were indifferent about which region the party’s running mate should be chosen from. The remaining 7.7% settled on one of the other 15 regions in the country.
“Between Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh and Dr Yaw Adutwum, who would you choose as the running mate?” was the next question that the DI researchers posed to the respondents. Of the national/regional executives who were surveyed, 84.7% settled on Napo and 15.3% chose Dr Adutwum.
At constituency level, 84.4% said they prefer Napo and 15.7% Dr Adutwum. Out of polling station executives, 69.3% were on the side of Matthew Opoku Prempeh and 30.7% said they would like Yaw Adutwum.
Overall, 77% of all the respondents said Dr Opoku Prempeh (Napo) is their preferred candidate for running mate and 23% chose Dr Adutwum.
Willingness to co-operate
On the subject of willingness to work with the presidential candidate’s choice of a running mate, an overwhelming proportion of the respondents (98.1%) mentioned that they were willing to work with the Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s choice of running mate, irrespective of their personal choice.
At the constituency level, again almost all the respondents (99.2%) responded that they were willing to work with the presidential candidate’s choice for the running mate.
“However, a deeper analysis of the reasons for this response indicates that respondents also insist that any choice the presidential candidate makes must be someone who can work with all party executives, old or new.
“If the running mate is humble, approachable, fair and objective, party executives are willing to work with the person,” the DI survey report points out.
Reporting by Wilberforce Asare in Accra
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