Former Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has cautioned the New Patriotic Party (NPP) against reducing its presidential primaries to a contest of mere popularity or eligibility.
Speaking in an interview on PM Express on JoyNews, the veteran legislator stressed that the stakes for both the NPP and Ghana are too high for such a superficial approach.
“People are coming out there because they satisfy the qualification and eligibility criteria as set out in the party’s constitution or even the national constitution,” he noted.
His comments came in response to a suggestion by host Evans Mensah that the party’s limited expansion of its electoral college could open the door to heavy monetisation of the primaries. The host argued that while the revised system is broader than before, it still allows well-funded aspirants to target and influence delegates.
“But you see, whoever should be the president of this country, we are not looking at just the qualification, eligibility criteria for whoever should be our president,” Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu added.
The former Suame MP stressed that the focus must be on leadership qualities, not just the ability to contest.
“We are not just looking for a flagbearer,” he declared. “We are looking for a president or a presidential candidate.”
He referenced a key moment in the party’s political history, recalling the caution issued by party elder Kwame Pianim in 2007, when 17 aspirants vied to succeed then-President J.A. Kufuor.
“Pianim stepped in and made a profound statement that ‘NPP, you’re not looking for a flagbearer. People seem to think that we are looking for a flagbearer.
“As for the flagbearership, any idiot could become the flagbearer.’ But we are looking beyond the flagbearer, because you are looking for a presidential candidate who ultimately will become the president of this country,” he recalled.
Source: Abubakar Ibrahim
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