Former President John Agyekum Kufour denies endorsing Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia to head the NPP in 2024.
He hasn’t backed anybody for the forthcoming party primary.
According to him, media reports that he backed Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s candidacy at the Peduase Valley Resort Father’s Day luncheon misinterpreted what happened.
Former President Carter stated his words regarding Dr. Bawumia are not an endorsement.
The former president said he was not being political when he called the vice president “a loyal son.”
“In the upcoming NPP Flagbearership race, in order to achieve party unity and sustain it thereafter for victory of the party in the 2024 elections, what President Kufuor expects from the party and political hierarchies are fair and un-engineered systems and processes that would lead to a fair selection of our next NPP flagbearer.
“This should be devoid of coercion and machinations so that the eventual selected nominee, coming out of the uncompromised freewill of the voting delegates, can easily command the support and respect of all party faithfuls, and indeed, other Ghanaians sympathetic to our cause towards ‘breaking the eight’,” the statement clarifying issues stated.
Speaking at an event over the weekend to mark father’s day in the Eastern Region, Kufuor said Bawumia has become like a son to him ever since he became a politician.
“Let me single out one person; he is also a father, but I can claim that he happens to be my son too, and that’s the Vice-President sitting right by me,” the 83-year-old said. “In your narration, you said when the planners decided to invite the Vice-President, you learnt he had gone to the North for some duties, and you even doubted whether he would manage to come.”
“But you phoned him, and with his signature giggling, he said ‘if it’s JA Kufuor, I’m coming’. That’s so touching, very touching, but probably that’s how a son should behave towards a father. Sheer coincidence, but you may not know that I started being a father in 1963, and that happened to be the year the Vice-President was born.