A stalwart of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Richard Winfred Anane, has denied media reports that he has endorsed Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia to be the 2024 Presidential Candidate of the NPP.
In a statement released to the press, Dr. Anane, a former Minister of Health under Kufuor urged the public to treat the reports with contempt.
“My attention has been drawn to a publication on some online portals suggesting that I have endorsed the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia to succeed President Akufo-Addo. I wish to state emphatically and unequivocally clear that I have not endorsed Dr. Bawumia to succeed the President. I, therefore, urge the general public to disregard the fake news and treat it with the contempt that it deserves,” Dr. Anane wrote.
The denial is being interpreted in some circles as a rejection of Dr. Bawumia who is widely believed to have the support of President Akufo-Addo to succeed him as leader of the NPP after the President’s second term.
It is especially being interpreted so because Dr. Anane makes the point that his relationship with Bawumia is only at the level where they exchange pleasantries when they meet, and these meetings have been on very few occasions at funerals
However, with Trade Minister, Alan Kyeremanten, who is also tipped to contest Dr. Bawumia for the party’s 2024 Presidential ticket, Dr. Anane makes the point that he has had a close working relationship with him for a very long time.
“I have encountered the Vice President at few funerals and just like many others, our interactions have not gone beyond exchanging pleasantries,” he said.
The dynamics playing out indicates that the factions within the NPP revolving around President Akufo Addo and the other around former President John Agyekum Kufour are consolidating their divide and may be bracing for a tumultuous faceoff for the selection of a successor to President Akufo Addo.
The former MP for Nhyiaeso in the Ashanti Region and former Roads and Highways Minister under former President Kufuor adds; “There are lot of qualified patriots to succeed the President. The Vice President is doing a good job in his designated role. So are others, including Alan Kyerematen a party Stalwart who I have worked with since 1992 and is doing remarkably well as our Trade minister. However, I am of a strong belief that we need to give our President time and space to govern and that, we must all be guided by the past.”