Former Presidential Candidate Aspirant of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Ing. Francis Addai-Nimoh, has described Paul Awentami Afoko as the most suitable candidate to lead the party as National Chairman in its present circumstances.
According to him, the former embattled National Chairman started on a project christened: “The New Plan for Power” to reorganize, reunite, rebrand and recapture power for the party before he was ousted out of office prior to the 2016 general elections.
“For the unity of the party at the moment, he is the most suitable person – he is the best bet for the NPP under the current circumstances of the party. The second reason why we need him to come back is the work he started in 2014 and then in less than one year, six months we removed him from office, he couldn’t complete what he wanted to do for the NPP” he stated.
The former lawmaker for Asante Mampong constituency in the Ashanti Region during a meeting with Constituency Executives in the Northern Region over the weekend indicated that giving Mr. Afoko another mandate for four years will offer him the opportunity to implement robust and strategic mechanisms to remobilize and rebrand the party from the base to beat the National Democratic Congress in the 2028 general elections.
Mr. Addai-Nimoh argues further that, “The third reason is that, all our people who are dissatisfied and they are hurt [some are angry], they don’t want to hear NPP anywhere; if they see that we’ve gone back to bring Paul Afoko as the next National Chairman, it will bring a huge a motivation, inspiration and encouragement for all those who have been hurt, aggrieved and they want to be part of the NPP again.”
Balance equation
Responding to assertions that the NPP must balance the equation in the leadership front given that the 2028 Presidential candidate hails from the North, the former Legislator in his remarks said there is no equation to be balanced.
He recounted the NPP since 1992 always had a Southern as Flagbearer and a Southern as National Chairman, asking whether there has ever been any problem with that in the history of the party.
“So right now is the time to have a Northerner as Flagbearer and a Northerner as National Chairman. Should there be a problem? So, we always look for who is the best person to occupy any position at any time.
“At one time President Kufuor was there and Peter Mac Manu from Ashanti Region was the National Chairman. We had two Ashantis – one for President, one for National Chairman; did we complain? So now, we will have Dr Mahamudu Bawumia as Presidential candidate and Awentami Paul Afoko as National Chairman” he posited.
