The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Asante Akim South constituency, Andy Appiah Kubi, has underscored that the running mate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, will influence decision-making with her academic background.
On Thursday, March 7, the NDC formally announced the first female Vice-Chancellor for the University of Cape Coast as the running mate to former President John Mahama ahead of the December 7 elections.
Speaking on The Key Points on TV3 today [Saturday, March 9], Mr. Appiah-Kubi commended the NDC for going through the processes smoothly to select its running mate for the 2024 elections, urging his party [the NPP] to emulate the level of consensus building demonstrated by their opponents.
He noted that with the appointment of Prof. Opoku-Agyemang, academia will be involved in policy formation and decision-making.
“I also want to wish her well for the fact that she carries with her traces of academia into the centre of decision-making, which is good,” he said, indicating that “we have to also practicalise some of the policies we develop in the academic areas so that academia will also make [an] impression in our national lives.
“And particularly the consensus building, which has been the process of generating the running mate and I want my party also to learn from that process to see if we can put our heads together and find the best-fit [individual],” he stated.
He further indicated that he is not interested in the regional arguments around the selection of Dr. Bawumia’s running mate.
“I am not interested at all that somebody must come here [or there],” he stated.
According to Mr. Appiah-Kubi, the party should look out for someone “who will bring votes to the ticket.” Beyond the votes, he said the person must also be relevant to the administration of the country post-election.
However, the Asante Akim South lawmaker emphasised that the country’s political landscape has north-south dynamics.
“For me in Ghana, it is a north-south situation—someone from the north, somebody from the south, at least, that brings the country together but if you go beyond the north-south situation and say you must be western or eastern, that one I don’t like,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the flagbearer of the NPP, Dr. Bawumia, is expected to name his running mate in the coming weeks. The Vice President had earlier requested that the party grant him some more time to consult extensively on the right person to partner with him to break the ‘eight’.
