Ace journalist Kojo Yankson has opined that the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party has taken a huge risk with his appointment of Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh as his running mate for the 2024 elections.
According to him, Dr Bawumia could commit political suicide if his worst fears about the Energy Minister come to bear.
Speaking on ‘The Couch’ program, Kojo Yankson believed that Dr. Bawumia and his campaign team were spot on with their assumption that a significant win in the Ashanti Region could be enough to get them over the line on December 7, 2024.
However, he dissents from the idea that Matthew Opoku Prempeh is the right man to help them achieve their percentage target in the elections.
Kojo Yankson noted that while Matthew Opoku Prempeh wields significant influence in the Ashanti Region, his perceived arrogance and penchant for making comments he deems to be reckless could scupper the chances of Dr. Bawumia.
“When you realize that you catch yourself making decisions that are very invariably going to cause your doom, then you know that the gods are no longer on your side. I think Bawumia has been committed to choosing NAPO as his running mate from the very beginning.
“The report I’ve caught in the past week was that when the Vice President presented his choice to the President, the President gave his advice and suggestions, and it was after those pieces of advice and suggestions that the President eventually accepted NAPO. So the person who we think is the puppet master behind Bawumia wasn’t able to change Bawumia’s mind on this complete car-crash of a choice. Even the so-called puppet master couldn’t change his mind. His mind has been made up a long time ago.
“If you know the Vice President, you will understand his weakness. His weakness is for figures and his understanding of figures. That’s his weakness. And I’m not questioning his competence when it comes to economics. He is an economist, a competent one. I’m not questioning his ability to read spreadsheets. His real weakness is when he tries to make numbers and politics align. Every single thing he has said that has taken numbers and turned them into political rhetoric is now the albatross around his neck.
“The Vice President has made two assumptions. One is completely correct. One is completely wrong. His first assumption is that the NPP has an uphill task of winning this coming election. The disaffection across the nation is widespread, so they have a very difficult job of winning the election. However, if the NPP wins more than 75% of the Ashanti Regional votes alone, they can stop counting the rest of the votes because they will win the election by all reasonable estimations. This assumption is correct. That’s Dr. Bawumia’s theory on which he is operating, and it is correct. Then he makes a second assumption that the best way to win 75% or more of the Ashanti Region is by having NAPO as a running mate. This assumption is entirely wrong.
“The minute this man is announced as vice-presidential candidate, we have to understand that the NPP is one comment away from losing the election on any given day. They are just one disrespectful comment away from losing the election. One ethnocentric comment away from losing the election. They are one misguided, downright ignorant comment away from losing the election because they’ve chosen NAPO,” he said.
NAPO was on Thursday, July 4, 2024, unanimously endorsed by the National Council of the New Patriotic Party.
