Upper East Regional Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party, Anthony Namoo says the party will elect its presidential candidate based on competence rather than where one comes from.
Speaking in an interview on State of Our Nation, the legal practitioner said the NPP believes in meritocracy and will present its best bet for the 2024 polls.
“We have to understand that the fact that this our party is party of meritocracy. Meritocracy meand we look for the best foot forward at any particular point in time,” he said.
He brushed off arguments that the party should elect a candidate from the North to dilute claims by particularly its opponent, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that it is an Akan-party and does not accommodate people of Northern descent.
Such arguments, if entertained, he argued, will downplay the merit of any candidate from that part of the country who get elected for the position and make it appear as a form of tokenism.
“The other leg of the argument could be that the man is not competent but because he is from the North that’s why they have given it to him and that we will be worst for us than (the argument that we don’t give opportunities to Northerners).
So we want the North to get it based on competence and not because it’s out of sympathy. We write the same WAEC exams. So why will we be going to lead a party as big as NPP and want to appeal to pity that because we are from the North and because we have never led the party they should give it to us?”
He said the party will elect a Northern presidential candidate based on the individual’s competence and not merely because of their geographical origin if it decides to do so.
“We want anybody who is going to vote to do that based on the fact that if the person happens to come from the North, it’s because the person is very qualified. So that when the person gets it will not be said that ‘but for our pity on you, you will not be there”.
He also dismissed claims that the NPP does not welcome minority groups in the country, stating that it is merely an “age-old communist inferior tactics” the NDC deploys in its campaign.
As the NPP prepares to hold its presidential primary later this year to elect President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s successor, some, who are pushing for Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia to be elected say the party will be reinforcing its rival’s claim that its an Akan party if it fails to give the Vice President the nod.
But supporters of former Trades Minister, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen , who is tipped to be a frontrunner aside from the Vice President, say the party will be falling into the NDC’s trap if it attempts to do so.
