Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu believes the NPP will be better served if the party presents a non-Akan flagbearer for the 2024 elections.
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2024 NPP presidential race: Stop ethnic-based arguments - MFWA boss to Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu
The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa, Sulemana Braimah, has asked the Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu to stop making ethnocentric arguments relating to who becomes the next flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) ahead of the 2024 general elections.
Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu
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According to him, a change in direction is required, as the party has already produced two Akan Presidents in John Agyekum Kufuor and President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
He noted that picking a presidential candidate from another ethnicity will also help to dispel claims that the NPP is an 'Akan party'.
"Inwardly, I know I have the competence to lead the party but is it wise that after two Akans – former President Kufuor and current President Akufo-Addo – to present a flagbearer candidate with different ethnicity," Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said.
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"I think it is not good for a party which has been accused by some as being overly Akanistic in nature. But not everybody would agree with me and that is the beauty of democracy," he added.
Braimah reacting to the comments made by the Majority leader said: "Dear Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, please stop the ethnic-based arguments on who deserves to become the presidential candidate of the NPP for the 2024 elections."
"If your choice is from the North or Volta, tell us why you think the fellow will be the best to lead the party and potentially the nation," he said, adding: "Be preaching to us about competence, leadership qualities, etc. that should make one a leader rather than your focus on which part of Ghana the next leader of your party should or shouldn't be hailing from."
"We have one Ghana.
"What we need is competent, selfless, and patriotic leadership, not leadership on the basis of ethnicity or which part of the country a person comes from," he noted.
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He indicated that Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu's argument "on this matter has been disappointing, to say the least."
"More than anything else...arguments reveal your focus on one thing that is killing Ghana – how to win power...it doesn't matter if Ghana is led by 10 successive Akan or Dagomba leaders. The same should apply to political parties," he added.
"What matters, he said, "is leadership qualities and competence that can help make such leaders lead Ghana into prosperity for all.
"If someone should have those essential qualities, it shouldn't matter where they come from in Ghana," Braimah said.
He wondered why Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu is not practicing what he is preaching.
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"You are an Akan from Ashanti. You have been a Minority leader for a number of years and a Majority leader for the last four years and continuing.
"Why have you not given way for someone else from the North or West to lead the NPP in Parliament to help deal with the Akan factor you have been talking about? Let leadership and competence be the guiding principle, not ethnicity," he argued.
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