Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia is portraying himself as a “chameleon”, religion-wise, just so he can win the hearts and votes of both Muslims and Christians in his bid to become the flagbearer of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) ahead of the 2024 general elections, a group calling itself NPP Youth For Victory 2024 has said.
At a press conference on Monday, 10 January 2021, the group told journalists at the Press Centre in Accra that “we cannot finish this conference without mentioning the dangerous irresponsibility which, in recent times, has been the order of the campaign of the Vice-President”.
“We all know that the mantra of the second gentleman’s campaign is hinged on digitisation; however, we find it irresponsible the number of complaints we have received from across the country that certain individuals moving round in the name of the second gentleman’s campaign are campaigning on the fact that Ghana should support the Veep because he is a northerner and a Muslim”, the group observed.
It said: “We do not see how the Vice-President, who, in one breadth shows he is tolerant and even attends Christian church services, will be going around telling people to support him because he is a Muslim. Such chameleon attitude is not fit for nation-building”.
The members said: “Unfortunately, we have never heard the Vice-President calling any of the proponents of such irresponsibility to order”.
According to the group, the latest of such behaviour “is the campaign by the Deputy Majority Chief Whip of Ghana’s Parliament, in the person of Hon Alhaji Habib Iddrisu, who is also the MP for Tolon Constituency in the Northern Region”.
“It must be noted that, as per the electoral rules laid down by the party, if it were a supporter of another potential candidate behind such heinous actions, that person would have been eliminated from the race before the campaign begins but the general secretary, who is already boot-licking the Veep, cannot do anything about this and even when other prominent members of the party commit themselves in such irresponsible manner because the executive is in bed with the Veep, they are unable to call such actions to order and crack the whip”, the group complained.
It warned: “Many African countries have been devastated by tribal and religious politics and we will not let any individual or group use such a slippery slope to dip Ghana’s democracy and discredit our great party”.
Read the group’s full press statement below:
NPP YOUTH FOR VICTORY 2024
Press Conference
DR BAWUMIA AND HIS SUPPORTERS ARE DIVIDING AND DESTROYING NPP
INTRODUCTION
Ladies and gentlemen of the media fraternity, Fellow NPP lovers, other well-meaning Ghanaians who wish well for our beloved country, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen herein present; we are highly elated to welcome you all to this all-important press conference to address the NPP Fraternity and the General Public on the above subject and to set the records straight on the Tradition of the Party since its inception several decades ago. We have carefully selected you all for this all-important conference because of your unbiased reportage and the trust we have reposed in you for the past years.
PURPOSE OF THE GROUP
The NPP YOUTH FOR VICTORY 2024 is a group of experienced professional men and women of the NPP with a common purpose to pull resources together (financial, logistics, and manpower) to ensure that the NPP Breaks the 8 come 2024 general elections.
FLOUTING OF THE PARTY’S CODE OF CONDUCT WITH IMPUNITY AND NO ACTION TAKEN BY THE PARTY DESPITE CLEARLY STIPULATED CONSEQUENCES FOR BREACHING THE CODE.
Ladies and gentlemen, prior to the recent National Delegates Conference a communique was issued from the NPP Headquarters pointing out clearly what each potential candidate and their supporters ought not to do. We found candidates complying with these directives and we want to commend all those who did, and to appreciate your respect for law and order.
However, supporters of our desperate vice president were spotted flouting the rules of engagement by wearing Bawumia-branded T-shirts to the grounds some of whom confided in us that they were given the T-shirt and GHS10 to come and cheer up the Vice-President. Amazingly, as though the Bawumia branded T-shirt was equivalent to an accreditation card, all those wearing the printed shirts were granted access to the conference grounds to come and deliberately disturb the peace of Delegates to think for the party.
We also saw billboards of the vice president raised by a group calling itself “friends of Bawumia” and our shameless national officers looked on and took no action to bring such nuisance to order. A similar issue happened during the celebration of the final Adae Kese Festival, where supporters of Dr Bawumia displayed placards, t-Shirts and banners of the so-called Friends of Bawumia, even after the issuing of the code of conduct. This happened right in front of General Secretary John Boadu and Chairman Wuntumi and at no point did any of them call this action to order either at the event or even after the event. This shows a selective application of the code which is not proper for the development of our party.
Another issue we sadly observed at the conference is the intentional breach of protocol as a propagandist way of launching the Bawumia campaign. Protocol demands the President should be the last dignitary to be seated at such functions, yet for this staged Delegates Conference, the Vice-President, who seemed to have forgotten all proper protocols decided to come late to the conference after the president was seated and to disturb the sanctity of same. Up to this time, the leadership of the party has not even coughed about it.
SOME SELFISH PEOPLE OPENLY CAMPAIGNING FOR THE VICE-PRESIDENT
We have been watching the party’s top hierarchy before and after the National Delegates Conference in Kumasi and how some Members of Parliament led by Hon. OseiKyei-Mensah-Bonsu (Majority Group Leader), Hon. Amin Anta (MP, Karaga), Hon. Habib Iddrisu (MP, Tolon), Hon. Farouk Mahama (MP, Yendi), Mr Anthony Karbo, Nana Boakye (Nana B), Chairman Wuntumi (the Ashanti Regional Chairman), Mr Mohammed A. Baantima Samba (Northern Regional Chairman), Mr Kwabena Nsenkyire among others have kept on violating the party’s directives by openly declaring their support for the Vice-President’s flag-bearership bid without any rebuke from the party’s hierarchy. This is not the best for a party that is seeking to break the 8. So far as the party has stopped other potential aspirants from campaigning, such activities shouldn’t be encouraged. It seems it is right for the Vice-President and his supporters to flout party rules but other candidates cannot do the same. This must stop. 3. TARGETING OF PERCEIVED ALAN SUPPORTERS WITH SUSPENSION
Our group has observed that there seems to be a grand scheme targeted at individuals who are perceived to be supporters of the Hon. Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Alan Kyerematen, to become the flag-bearer of the party and eventually the president of Ghana. It is rather worrying and an affront to our collective objective for known campaigners of Dr Bawumia to threaten and in some cases sack persons perceived to be loyal to Mr Kyerematen. Just last week, Alhaji Ibrahim Kaleem, a member of the Northern Regional Communication team of the party, and Mr Dawda Jentumah, Choggu West Electoral Area Coordinator in the Tamale Central Constituency, have been issued with suspension letters for discussing and advancing Mr Kyerematen’s contribution to the party since 1992. This selective “canker” must not be encouraged.
THE LOOMING DANGER OF TRIBAL AND RELIGIOUS POLITICS BEING PEDDLED BY SUPPORTERS OF THE VICE-PRESIDENT (ALHAJI DR. M. BAWUMIA)
Ladies and gentlemen, we cannot finish this conference without mentioning the dangerous irresponsibility which in recent times have been the order of the campaign of the Vice-President. We all know that the mantra of the second gentleman’s campaign is hinged on digitisation, however, we find it irresponsible the number of complaints we have received from across the country that certain individuals moving around in the name of the second gentleman’s campaign are campaigning on the fact that Ghana should support the Veep because he is a northerner and a Muslim. We do not see how the Vice-President, who, in one breadth shows he is tolerant and even attends Christian church services, will be going around telling people to support him because he is a Muslim. Such a chameleon attitude is not fit for nation-building. Unfortunately, we have never heard the Vice-President calling any of the proponents of such irresponsibility to order. The latest one is the Campaign by the Deputy Majority Chief Whip of Ghana’s Parliament, in the person of Hon Alhaji Habib Iddrisu, who is also the MP for Tolon Constituency in the Northern Region. It must be noted that, per the electoral rules laid down by the party, if it were a supporter of another potential candidate behind such heinous actions, that person would have been eliminated from the race before the campaign begins but the general secretary who is already boot-licking the Veep cannot do anything about this and even when other prominent members of the party commit themselves in such irresponsible manner because the executive is in bed with the Veep they are unable to call such actions to order and crack the whip.
Many African countries have been devastated by tribal and religious politics and we will not let any individual or group use such a slippery slope to dip Ghana’s democracy and discredit our great party.
DEFILEMENT OF THE NPP’S MOTTO: DEVELOPMENT IN FREEDOM
The key pillar on which the NPP stand is the motto “Development in Freedom”. We do acknowledge that the leadership of His Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo is doing well by providing development in Ghana, He has done so much that can help the party to retain power. However, the Freedom of expression in the New Patriotic Party has been defiled and abused, manipulated and misused by the holders of the keys to the powers that be. While it is a crime to openly support some other candidates, it is as if it is an acceptable norm to support some others, this is like the animal kingdom saying that all NPP members are equal but Bawumia is more equal than others. This behaviour seems to have amassed a lot of hatred for the Vice-President. His perceived presidential ambition should not become a reason to butcher others with similar or perhaps better chances to lead the great elephant party into the 2024 general elections. Again, we have observed how the Campaign Team (for want of a better word) of Bawumia are moving from constituency to constituency campaigning, meeting delegates and potential delegates and giving them money to support the Vice-President’s bid. It will be a dent on the integrity of national officers of NPP if they claim not to have seen this, but the question is what have they done about it? If it were another candidate, maybe that person would be suspended if not sacked from the party. Why are we killing those who bled for this party to stand for the sake of someone who came from nowhere to enjoy power and prominence in our party?
RECENT HAPPENINGS IN THE NORTHERN REGION
We cannot finish this meeting without speaking about the recent happenings in the Northern Region. The sad part is the Regional Chairman himself has confirmed supporting the bid of the Vice-President and yet, is sacking communicators from the party for attending events that are perceived to talk about Alan Kyerematen. Whether this is wizardry or myopia, we expect that as soon as the matter broke, the national secretariat should have called the parties to order and kill the hypocrisy before it is escalated, but, perhaps, because it is they who are behind such shameful dismissals, our national secretariat has been loudly quiet about the issues. Time will not permit us to go into the details, but we will leave this to the able decision of the Council of Elders to ensure that such issues are quickly resolved in order not to breed sharp divisions in the party which can affect our chance for a shot at another victory.
CONCLUSION Another electoral victory for the NPP is an automatic key to ensure the continuity in the development of Ghana our motherland and we will not mince words but will speak directly to the powers that be, and boldly confront you to sit up, you stand to gain more if we win power and yet your attitude is less of bravado and more of puppets of mediocrity. This must stop before we start a campaign to ensure that no national officer is retained. You are therefore kindly advised to play by the very book you have written. For us, victory is all we need, and we will go at all ends to make sure it does not elude us.
Ladies and gentlemen, we want to thank you all for making time with us, we hope that when the respected H.E Akufo-Addo has finished serving Ghana as president, we will be able to get another son of the Elephant to continue the legacy and break the 8-year cycle of political rotation in the country.
We as a group will do everything to ensure that this is done and done well. The NPP must win and win again to keep Ghana on a continuous growth tangent.
Long Live Ghana Long Live the NPP
Long Live the President of Ghana
SPEAKERS:
Name: Jerry John Campbell Telephone number: 0550302299
Constituency: Okaikwei North
Name: Edward Adams
Telephone number: 054 796 1461 Constituency: Upper Denkyira East
Name: Frederick Opoku
Contact: 026 125 5255
Constituency: Weija Gbawe
