A leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Bono Region has implored President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to maintain Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), who contributed exceptionally towards the Party’s Election 2020 victory.
Mr Yaw Dabie Appiah, a former regional organiser of the NPP in the then ‘Brong-Ahafo’ Region, said the NPP must acknowledge the tremendous contributions of most of the MMDCEs, saying maintaining them in their positions would greatly advance the cause of the Party and enhance its fortune in the Election 2024.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Odumase in the Sunyani West Municipality, Mr Appiah said the “government requires MMDCEs who already understand its social intervention policies and programmes being implemented to benefit the masses.”
The Former NPP Regional Organiser, however, said the “President has the prerogative to change MMDCEs whose poor performances made the NPP unpopular in the eyes of the electorate.”
“Unless any MMDCE criminally misconducts himself or herself, I think there is no need for the President to replace him/her in the supreme interest of the Party in the Election 2024,” he added.
Mr Appiah said Ghanaians had high expectations from President Akufo-Addo’s government to do more to facilitate accelerated national development for them to make informed choices in the Election 2024.
“Many of the MMDCEs in the Bono Region performed well in the first term of President Akufo Addo and they have proven track records to testify, and I am convinced they would do better if they are maintained,” he said.
“President Akufo-Addo owes the NPP and the Party grassroots moral obligation to ensure that the Party retains political power in 2024. We are ever-ready to support him to achieve that feat, but it would be politically suicidal if the President makes wrong appointments,” Mr Appiah indicated.
That notwithstanding, the former regional organiser called on the Party not to pressurize President Akufo-Addo to impose their choices of nominees on him, saying that could create in-fighting and cause the Party dearly since it could narrow its political fortunes.
As a strong Party “under the great elephant,” Mr Appiah stated every card-bearing and good standing member of the NPP had the privilege to vie for MMDCEs positions but added, “We must not allow positions to destroy us because the Party is supreme.”