Bawumia-NAPO ticket good for NDC – Asiedu Nketiah

National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, has expressed confidence that the Bawumia-Matthew Opoku Prempeh ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will make it easier for the NDC to secure victory in the December 7 polls.

According to Mr. Nketiah, the selection of Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, also known as NAPO, as the running mate is beneficial to the NDC due to his perceived arrogance and disrespectfulness.

Speaking on CTV’s morning show, Dwabo, on Wednesday, July 24, 2024, Mr. Nketiah likened the situation to playing football against a team with a goalkeeper who has a broken hand, implying that the NPP's choice has weakened their position.

“Everyone knows NAPO is arrogant and disrespectful. That is why the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, his father, advised him to prove his critics wrong on the assertion that he is arrogant and not to make Bawumia regret selecting him as running mate. But soon after leaving Manhyia Palace after the advice, he went to mount a campaign platform [to disrespect Kwame Nkrumah],” Mr. Nketiah stated.

He also criticized the NPP's strategy of using NAPO's royal lineage as a campaign tool. Mr. Nketiah argued that the NDC believes in equality under the constitution and does not prioritize royal heritage when selecting leaders. He pointed out that in the Akan tradition, inheritance is matrilineal, suggesting that Napo is not a true royal despite his grandfather, Prempeh, once being an Asantehene.

“Where he [NAPO] and his supporters have placed his campaign is wrong because we in the NDC believe in equality under the constitution, so we don’t care what region our president or running mate will be coming from, whether from a royal family or not, so long as he satisfies the constitutional requirement of being a Ghanaian.

"... But NAPO and his supporters appear to be pitching their campaign and asking people to vote for him because he comes from a royal family, but we in the NDC know it is his grandfather, Prempeh, who was once an Asantehene, but in Akan, inheritance is matrilineal, not patrilineal, so NAPO is not a true royal,” Mr. Nketiah emphasized.