TRANSCRIPT: See how Dr Afriyie Akoto responded when he was asked why he wanted to be President
Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, a former Minister for Food and Agriculture, has revealed that his motivation for seeking the presidency of Ghana is to lead the New Patriotic Party as its flagbearer.
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During an interview with Evans Mensah on JoyNews TV, Dr Akoto clarified that his ultimate goal was to contribute to the NPP's development as its leader in the 2024 presidential election.
Dr Akoto is a prominent member of the NPP and one of several contenders for the position of the party's flagbearer.
Other contenders include Kennedy Agyapong, Kwabena Agyapong, Alan Kyeremanten, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia and Joe Gartey, who are all vying to lead the party in the 2024 presidential election.
Dr Akoto was appointed as Minister for Food and Agriculture by President Akufo-Addo in 2017 and resigned from the position in January 2023 to concentrate on his campaign activities. The NPP primaries are scheduled for January 2024.
Read a transcript of the exchange between Evans Mensah (EM) and Dr Akoto below;
Evans Mensah: Something you've done as I said all through your life I mean as we tracked all the way back you've held very similar positions both prior in a private practice and in government and in public service so why do you want to be president?
Dr Akoto: I want to be president because I want to be the flagbearer of the NPP which is what is driving me to give an opportunity for me to make a contribution to the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
As you saw in 2020 elections the results were not very satisfactory now we have 137, NDC has 137. We came from 169 we lost 36 constituencies, a presidential candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who beat Mahama by 1.5 million votes unprecedented in the Fourth Republic.
The vote dropped to only half a million in 2020 and the puzzling thing is given the first term of Akufo-Addo where there was no COVID and things were running for this country, rate of growth of Agriculture of the economy and so on, one would have thought that Ghanaians would actually give us a pat on the back by voting for even higher numbers than 2016.
But what happened, we nearly lost Parliament and now of course 137 137, the only difference between majority and minority (in Parliament) is one independent candidate who decided to work with us, was previously a Member of Parliament for NPP.
So, you see that we are not in a good place and the interesting thing this sharp drop in our performance election in 2020 wasn't because of the message or whatever promises NDC were giving.
It was to do with the party because the party is the machinery if I called an Uber here to take me to my house and the Uber comes and the engine is broken I could sit in that car forever and ever, it wouldn't move.