Former Deputy Minister of Communications Felix Kwakye Ofosu has taken a swipe at the Vice President following his election as the 2024 flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
He insists that the percentage of votes garnered by Dr Mahamudu Bawumia at the weekend’s presidential primaries means he has lost the confidence of Ghanaians to win the 2024 elections.
According to him, a candidate of the NPP can only win a presidential election in Ghana by not getting less than 90 percent in the party’s presidential primaries, citing the over 90% win for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in 2014 ahead of the 2016 elections.
Explaining further on Monday, November 6, when he appeared on TV3‘s New Day, Mr Kwakye Ofosu, who is an aide to former president John Dramani Mahama, said losing nearly 40 percent in NPP’s presidential primaries is evidence of a vote of no confidence in the Vice President.
“Really, with us in the NDC and the rest of the Ghanaian people, Bawumia is not fit-for-purpose and does not have what it takes to govern this country,” he said, adducing that “there is nobody in the NPP’s history who has won elections at least since the NPP voter base was expanded who has had less than 90 percent and won the general elections”.
To him, the Vice President failed to attain a huge victory in internal elections, which send signals of what could happen in the main elections.
“But it is not surprising that he failed to achieve that because if you look at the NPP, for all their loudness, you see a very muted response to this delegates conference and it is because they know that the energy and confidence has been sapped away from them because of their appallingly abysmal performance.”
On Saturday, November 4, Dr Bawumia beat Assin Central Member of Parliament (MP) Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, former Agric Minister Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto and former Mampong MP Francis Addai-Nimoh to clinch the ticket of leading the NPP into next year’s elections.
He polled a total of 118,210 votes out of 193,346, representing 61.47 percent to become the winner.
He will come face-to-face with former President Mahama, all things being equal, in the 2024 elections.
Mr Kwakye Ofosu believes his boss has a superior record to Dr Bawumia in periods while the two were Vice Presidents and also while Mr Mahama was President.
Also on the show was the MP for Sekondi, Andrew Egyapa Mercer, who lauded the outcome of the exercise, particularly the peaceful way with which they were organised.
He expressed confidence that Dr Bawumia will be rewarded by Ghanaians come December 7, 2024.