'I've not endorsed anyone as NPP's 2024 flagbearer'

A former Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye, has denied endorsing any individual to be the flagbearer of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) going into the 2024 elections.

Prof. Oquaye said some media reports suggesting that he has endorsed the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia to lead the NPP in 2024 are false.

“My attention has been drawn to a publication on pages 1 and 11 of the Daily Dispatch issue of Wednesday, May 19, 2021, claiming that I, Prof. Aaron Michael Oquaye, has said that ‘Bawumia should be NPP’s 2024 flagbearer.’ I wish to state emphatically that I have not endorsed anyone as the 2024 flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party,” he said in a rejoinder.

The former Speaker, in an interview with Okyeman TV earlier this week, expressed appreciation for the work Dr. Bawumia has done for the party and the country, particularly his digitization initiatives.

“It would be fantastic if we are able to continue with this digitization and automation, including ICT drive of Dr. Bawumia,” Prof. Oquaye said during the interview.

But several reports subsequently said Prof. Oquaye has endorsed Dr. Bawumia to lead the party into the next presidential election.

Prof. Oquaye clarified that while he believes that Dr. Bawumia has performed well, there are other leading members of the government whose work has also been impressive.

“No endorsement was suggested to me, and I did not endorse anybody. I consider Dr. Bawumia as an ‘A Plus’ performer, but so are other NPP stalwarts, including Hon. Kyerematen, Dr. Akoto, Hon. Ursula, Dr. Prempeh. All these are excellent materials, and I will continue to say so in context,” he stated.

“To have misconstrued and misrepresented the comment on Ghana’s digitization progress as an indication for a particular individual to be the Flagbearer of the NPP in 2024 is not only inaccurate but complete falsehood. Members of the public are encouraged to disregard this misleading publication in the Daily Dispatch and other online media platforms,” Prof. Oquaye added.