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According to Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, a flagbearer candidate for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the party’s apparent polarization in its current form cannot ensure the party’s victory in the general elections of 2024 if the party does not conduct internal reforms.
He asserted that in order to garner the necessary support to secure victory in the general elections of 2024, the party must work hard, close ranks, and present a more united face.
He claims that seeing millions of Ghanaians—most of them party members—wallow in extreme poverty is damaging to the party’s and the government’s reputations.
According to Dr. Akoto, when the NPP won the 2016 general elections after spending eight years in opposition, many party members were hoping to experience a spark in their lives.
However, Dr. Akoto described the situation as “very sad and unfortunate” because the party and the government had neglected them.
The Cambridge University-trained agricultural economist said the challenge at hand will require that the party’s presidential primary winner prioritize it and initiate measures to address it before going into the 2024 general elections while speaking to journalists at his Kumasi residence on Monday, October 2, 2023.
He claimed that the public had placed so much faith in the party that its base had become apathetic as a result of its neglect, and that someone with innovative thinking and ideas was needed to restore their faith.
He has therefore presented himself as the most qualified candidate to govern and keep the party in power in the general elections in 2024.
“Ten months to the 2020 elections was when I even got a better view of what was going on. I was with President Akufo-Addo everywhere he went and the sentiments expressed by the people across the country were such that we couldn’t escape the fact that the morale of the NPP activists on the ground was very low. And that is something that haunted some of us until the elections. We were able to escape defeat by the skin of the teeth. From 169 seats we came to 137 and the NDC also 137 seats in Parliament”, Dr Akoto said.
“So, the NPP is not in a good place to contest to retain power next year and we have to address this issue very seriously. Anybody who aspires to bear the flag of the NPP, that should be the priority. I have a very clear understanding of the problems on the ground because I have been a Member of Parliament in Kwadaso here in Kumasi for eight years in opposition. So, I understand the concerns expressed by the activists on the ground who are polling station executives, Electoral Area Coordinators, and Constituency Executives who are more than 200,000 and are being asked to cast their vote on the 4th of November to decide who will bear the flag of the NPP” Dr Afriyie Akoto added.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
