Stop pushing Bawumia to name running mate – Hackman Owusu-Agyemang to NPP
Owusu-Agyemang said Dr Bawumia, the new leader of the NPP, must be given the time and space to assert his leadership and to consult broadly on the choice
The chairman of the Council of Elders of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, has made a passionate appeal to the rank and file of the ruling party to stop pushing the vice-president and the 2024 presidential candidate of the NPP, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, to name his running mate.
Speaking on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Wednesday (12 June 2024), Owusu-Agyemang stressed that it is only the presidential candidate whose name will appear on the ballot paper.
Dr Bawumia, as the new leader of the NPP, must first be given the time and space to assert his leadership and consult broadly, he said.
The former minister of foreign affairs, interior minister and minister of works, water and housing under President Kufuor says he wants to see the NPP focusing more on the party’s new leader and rallying behind him, rather than focusing on who his running mate should be.
Consultations are taking place to ensure that due process is followed and, in the fullness of time, the presidential candidate and the party will name a running mate, Owusu-Agyemang said.
“The pressure being put on the NPP presidential candidate by the press and by other people has no basis. He [Mahamudu Bawumia] is the man that is going to be on the ballot paper.
“I don’t think elections are won by vice-presidents: they make their contributions, but we have to give the gentleman [Dr Mahamudu Bawumia] the room and the time to look at everything, go round the country and [do proper consultations to decide who his running mate should be],” Owusu-Agyemang said.
“I appeal to our [NPP] members, I want to appeal to the nation, that Dr needs a lot of space – breathing space – to go through the processes, and that this pressure on him is absolutely not called for … We must stop pushing him as hard as we are doing,” he further said.
NDC not the yardstick
Answering a question on what seems to be an undue delay in naming the NPP running mate, especially when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has gone ahead of the NPP to name its running mate to the 2024 presidential candidate, Owusu-Agyemang said the NPP is not following the NDC, because the NDC is not the NPP’s measuring stick in decision-making.
As such, he said, the NPP will not be forced to tow the opposition’s line.
“We will do ours [naming a running mate] with due process and in the fullness of time. We are going to do things by the rules of the game. And in the fullness of time, when all the consultations are done, when we think we are ready to announce our running mate, we will do that.
“The party has not sat down at any forum to discuss where that running mate can come from,” Owusu-Agyemang said. “But strategically, when we are looking at the issue, we have to look at various parameters that are required for us to maximise our votes and, for that matter, win the elections.
“Let us give Dr Bawumia the chance to do what he has got to do.”
Background
Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia was elected the presidential candidate and leader of the NPP on Saturday 4 November 2023. Since his election, he has put together his campaign team and various manifesto subgroups which have all begun work.
On 7 February 2024, the NPP’s presidential candidate set out his vision of selfless leadership and bold solutions for Ghana’s future in a nationally televised address given at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA).
Dr Bawumia officially began his national campaign on 29 April 2024 in the Eastern Region. Since then, he has visited all 16 regions of the country, Ashanti being the last.
With the first phase of his campaign over, the vice-president/presidential candidate of the NPP will step up his engagement with voters across the country from next month onwards. He is also expected to name his running mate to complete the NPP’s 2024 presidential ticket.
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