The President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, has emphasized the importance of Senior Vice President, Kofi Bentil, to the course of the group despite his recent endorsements of the candidacy of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as President.
He acknowledged the tolerance for divergent views at IMANI Africa, stating that those views do not affect the mission of the policy think tank in putting out objective and independent analysis of issues affecting the country’s body politics.
He added that while individual views are highly respected, the collective mission of the group is put above individual interests at every point.
The founding President of IMANI Centre for Policy and Education further asserted that despite Mr. Bentil’s leanings towards a particular presidential candidate, his work and role at the organization remains unaffected, emphasizing that he is an integral part of the IMANI team that has produced objective and independent analysis as well as critiques over the years.
“Our individual wishes and preferences however expressed or communicated will always be overridden by the collective mandate we have carved for the organisation, in putting out objective, independent analysis and critiques on many issues within an environment that guarantees individual freedom and liberty.
“In this light, Mr. Kofi Bentil, whose personal political views were expressed about a preference for a candidate in this year’s election, remains an integral part of IMANI”.
Franklin Cudjoe
Mr. Cudjoe also touched on the need to create a work environment that values individual freedom and liberty as ways to arrive at some of the very best policy decisions.
Thus, Mr. Cudjoe’s post positioned IMANI Africa as a policy think tank that has been dedicated to its core values of impartiality and independent analysis despite divergent individual views.
His post follows a Facebook post by the Senior Vice President of IMANI, Kofi Bentil, recommending Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as a more potent candidate for the position of President of the Republic.
According to him, former President Mahama failed as President that was why Ghanaians did not give him a second term. He therefore encouraged Ghanaians to vote for Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia in the 2024 general election.
Kofi Bentil’s Life And Businesses Under Attack
Meanwhile, the Senior Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil, has bemoaned threats and attacks at his family and businesses following his endorsement of the New Patriotic Party’s presidential candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
While he found it unfortunate, he remains unperturbed by these threats and resolved to speak his mind when necessary.
Mr Bentil stressed on his respect for divergent views and pleaded with those engaged in the politics of insults to desist from it, adding that he has always welcome intellectual debates.
“People were meeting on attacking me and there were efforts afoot. You hear a lot of these things and I am not saying this is NDC, but there are all kinds of surrogates and people who feel upset about it. I don’t have a problem with debate and discourse no matter how vigorous.
“I block a lot of people on Facebook but I do that only when you insult me. But if you want to debate me, fine…people are planning to attack me with people saying when NDC comes into office, they will collapse my business.”
Lawyer Kofi Bentil
However, Mr. Bentil said he is not surprised at the numerous attacks because he was aware of the consequences of his endorsement of the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
The private legal practitioner in his Facebook post has asked Ghanaians to give Dr. Bawumia a fair hearing as President of the Republic.
In his view, Ghanaians can only make a proper comparison of the two competitive candidates, former President Mahama and Vice President Bawumia, if Bawumia is given the opportunity to be President.
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