Accra, June 23, GNA – Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has denied reports of his endorsement of one of the aspiring candidates in the upcoming New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer race.
A statement signed by Dr Kwabena Osei-Adubofour, Senior Aide and Spokesman for former President Kufuor, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the idea that President Kufuor had endorsed an aspiring candidate over several others who had expressed interest to contest in the race was untrue.
“This Office wants to emphatically deny that any such endorsement took place on the said occasion and bemoans the fact that what transpired has been seriously misconstrued.”
It noted that former President Kufuor and Vice-president Dr Mahamudu Bawumia were both guests of honour at a Father’s Day soiree that was organized by the Peduase Valley Resort and Hotel on Sunday, June 19.
It said the MC for the occasion was Mr Kwame Sefa-Kayi, who stated that when the Vice-President was invited the day before, he was on assignment in the North and appeared unable to be present.
“He continued that when Dr Bawumia was told that former President Kufuor would also be in attendance, it is…reported that he said ‘if it is Kufuor, then I will surely come.”
The statement said, in his remarks, the former President shared how touching it was to him to hear what the Vice-President was reported to have said.
It said the occasion being a Father’s Day event, former President Kufuor commented on the father-son relationships between him and Mr Sefa-Kayi, Mr Ibrahim Mahama, and the Mamfehene.
It said the former President also reminisced the close father-son relationship between him and Dr Bawumia and elaborated on how the Vice-President was only one month one day younger than his (Kufuor’s) own eldest child, John Addo Kufuor.
It said Mr Kufuor continued that he had always been close to the Vice-President and treated him like a true son.
The statement said there was nothing political about his remarks or even the occasion.
“President Kufuor wants people to know that the other much-talked-about prospective NPP flagbearer candidates like John Alan Kyerematen, Boakye Agyarko, Joe Ghartey and Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto all have close relationships with him,” the statement said.
“Of course, Dr Akoto is his younger brother.”
It said the former President believes that any of those mentioned, when selected by the Party to be the flagbearer, would be able to discharge ‘the’ work of the flagbearer very firmly and effectively.
It said in the upcoming NPP flagbearer race to achieve Party unity and sustain it, thereafter, for the victory of the Party in the 2024 elections, what President Kufuor expected from the Party and political hierarchies were fair and un-engineered systems and processes that would lead to a fair selection of their next NPP flagbearer.
It noted that this should be devoid of coercion and machinations so that the selected nominee, coming out of the uncompromised freewill of the voting delegates, could easily command the support and respect of all Party faithful, and indeed, other Ghanaians sympathetic to their cause, towards ‘breaking the eight’.
GNA