Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu’s comment 'divisive' and 'dangerous' – JB Danquah

Businessman and politician, Joseph Boakye Danquah, has described as unwarranted and divisive recent tribal comments made by Majority Leader on who leads the NPP as a presidential candidate going into the 2024 general elections.

Joseph Boakye Danquah argues that Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu’s averments could impede party structures and compromise cohesion among the rank and file.

“The NPP has an extraordinarily rich tradition and structures, so electing people for positions has always been on competence and not based on tribal sentiments, which has no basis,’’ the management expert intimated.

JB Danquah’s condemnations come in as the latest from party members who have reacted angrily to the Suame legislator’s view that it will be unwise to present another Akan flagbearer after Prof. Adu Boahen, J.A. Kufuor and Nana Akufo-Addo.

According to JB Danquah, who doubles as Chairman of NPP Minnesota Chapter in the United States, what should occupy the minds of the party leadership is to see how best President Akufo-Addo would steer the affairs of the country in his second term.

“I have always said that whoever is elected, whether an Akan or a Northerner as the presidential candidate would be campaigning on the record of this administration, so what is imperative is to ensure that this government succeeds, and not dabble in trivialities,” he added.

Speaking on the 'Africa Let's Talk' show in the US, JB Danquah was of the opinion that the latter’s assertion could threaten the fortunes of Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia going into the primary.

“I don’t have a problem if he is an Asante or not. I believe both Dr Bawumia and Alan Kyeremanten are competent to lead our party, so whoever is elected, we will follow him.

“But, to say that, we should vote one because he is a norther is completely unnecessary to say the least. Is Kyei-Mensah Bonsu saying that it is only northers qualified to lead our party?” he quizzed.

He further urged followers of the party to disregard such comments and called on the party’s leadership too, as a matter of urgency, to denounce the Majority Leader’s comment.

It will be recalled that Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, in a recent interview with Joy News remarked that after having filed three Akans as presidential candidates for the New Patriotic Party, it would be unwise for the NPP to field another Akan as flag bearer for election 2024.

According to the Majority Leader, the purpose of his view is to deal with the “Akanistic” tag being propagated by the opposition NDC.

The Majority Leader’s opinion has since been met with fierce opposition and condemnation by members of the NPP and many Ghanaians.