Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) flagbearer hopeful, has disregarded polls that suggest his rivals will prevail in the impending internal elections of the NPP.
He said that because the surveys are sponsored, they should be discounted.
On Monday, May 29, he declared while addressing a group of his supporters who picked the nominations form for him to contest in the elections, that “I have never sponsored any poll…Find out who is sponsoring those polls.”
“If I sponsor a poll, I bet you, they will say that I am first. But I won’t, it doesn’t serve any purpose. We know what we are doing on the ground so all the polls in the world can say whatever they want but we are talking about the 900 people who will be voting in the super delegates and the 210,000 delegates who will be voting on the 4th of November, that is what matters. So I don’t know the bases.”
Dr. Afriyie Akoto
It is recalled that Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia was predicted by delegates-based research by Outcomes International Ghana and the Centre for Sustainable African Development Initiatives (C-SADI) UK to win the NPP’s flagbearer elections before the 2024 general elections.
Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and former Trades Minister, Alan Kyerematen, have emerged as the front-runners to lead the party in the general elections of 2024, according to a number of polls, including one by Global Info Analytics.
Dr. Afriyie Akoto, however, stressed that the polls were funded by his rivals and cast doubt on the validity of such studies.
“The thing is that I have never sponsored any poll, find out who is sponsoring those polls, If I sponsor a poll they will say that I am vexed, but I won’t because it is self-defeating, it doesn’t serve any purpose so all the polls can say anything that they want.
“We know what we are doing on the ground. All the polls can say what they want, but we are talking about the 900 people who will be voting in the super delegates [conference] and the 200,000 delegates who will vote in November. We should be questioning the basis of these polls.”
Dr. Afriyie Akoto
On Monday, May 29, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto’s campaign team expressed confidence that his great work at the Ministry of Agriculture would be sufficient to secure his election as the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) flagbearer.
The team made sure to underline that farmers and delegates throughout the country who have supported the former Agriculture Minister’s endeavors, paid for the nomination papers when they picked up the forms at the NPP party headquarters.
Dr. Prince Amuzu, the campaign spokesperson for Dr. Afriyie Akoto, thanked farmers and delegates for their support and emphasized their confidence in his leadership abilities.
“We want to continue to thank Ghanaian farmers and the friends of Dr. Akoto who pulled themselves together to make it possible this morning that the forms for the contest have been picked at the party’s headquarters.”
Dr. Prince Amuzu
Afriyie Akoto Dares Mahama
Former president John Dramani Mahama, who was recently chosen as the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) flagbearer, has been dared by Dr. Afriyie Akoto to “bring it on” in the general elections in 2024.
The former Minister of Food and Agriculture indicated that he would defeat John Dramani Mahama, once he is elected flagbearer of the NPP.
On Monday, May 29, he made this statement to a group of his followers who had picked his candidacy forms for the NPP’s internal elections. “We will are going to secure victory and head into the elections next year. If the NDC has elected John Mahama, let him bring it on, we will defeat him,” he stated.
On Friday, May 26, the NPP began accepting nominations for its flagbearer elections. According to a release issued on Thursday, May 25, the deadline for nominations is Saturday, June 24.