The Member of Parliament for Adansi Fomena in the Ashanti Region, Kobina Tahir Hammond has rubbished what he thinks is the inordinate desire for power by four New Patriotic Party (NPP) bigwigs seeking to be elected presidential candidates.
He says being a bonafide member of the NPP and having been around party affairs long and close enough to know the upstarts too well, he will not credit Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku, Messrs Osei Ameyaw, Stephen Asamoah Boateng and Francis Addai Nimoh with any seriousness in their overly ambitious quest.
He had initially declined to name the four, saying he did not want to create any confusion.
In his view, the four do not love the party enough to want to waste everybody’s time by seeking to stand for the flagbearer position in the party, and he is convinced none of the unnamed four will get even 10 votes when the party goes to congress to elect a flagbearer.
KT Hammond, hysterical as he sought to explain his stance away in his comments to Citi FM’s Richard Sky, said there was no way those four candidates could wrest the party flagbearer position from Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and they should have weighed their chances and viability before attempting to waste everybody’s time.
“These are difficult and very serious times. We must be serious. We must be mindful of the matters, the enormity of the problems and the challenges that face the country at the moment. Look, by this irresponsible act they are putting all of us into jeopardy. First we have to go for this special congress that they are talking about and then after that all the expenditure, then we go into the congress proper. Look at the money entailed in going round and round the country which is money that if they really love this party they could put into our proper general elections campaign to make sure that we take the realms of power and look after this country…”
He said if he had his way, he would ask Messrs Alan Kyerematen and Joe Ghartey, who have filed to contest the position, to show some magnanimity and allow Nana Addo to go, but the rest of the contenders are jokers who should be disqualified by the vetting committee.
When KT Hammond finally came round to name the four he thought were unbefitting of the race, he said Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku, Messrs Osei Ameyaw, Stephen Asamoah Boateng and Francis Addai Nimoh should back out of the race because they would perform so abysmally they will not get even one vote.
He said perhaps they were seeking to engage in horse trading to get political appointments should Nana Addo win the presidency. He however said Nana Akufo-Addo will give out ministerial positions based on the talent and ability of appointees and they better pull out.
