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Ben Ephson, pollster and managing editor of the Daily Dispatch says the leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) cannot be blamed for the scramble by some ministers to succeed President Akufo-Addo.

Speaking on Asaase Radio Thursday (18 March), Ephson said, “I agree with Freddie Blay, you can’t blame the leaders. You cannot. I mean, why, should they issue a fiat? So that nobody should even mention Alan Kyerematen’s name or vice-president Bawumia’s name?” “So it’s going to be difficult. What Kwadwo Mpiani said is virtually out of the window. When Kwadwo Mpiani was chief of staff to ex-president J A Kufuor, there was only one election; the one they had with 17 people and the party [NPP] has broken it up. So this one, I’m sure there will be a mini congress to select the five [to contest in the main flagbearer election],” he added. 

Ephson said he is not surprised that there is a scramble among cabinet ministers to succeed President Akufo-Addo because “the NPP traditionally has had problems electing a new flagbearer.”

In an interview on Asaase Radio Thursday, Kwadwo Mpiani, chief of staff in the government of President John Agyekum Kufuor described the scramble among cabinet ministers to succeed President Akufo-Addo as a very worrying development in the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The former chief of staff attributed the jostling for position to a lack of discipline and failure on the part of the current party leadership of the NPP. He did not mince his words, describing the infighting as the product of a lack of discipline and failure on the part of the leadership of the New Patriotic Party. He mused on the cause, saying: “I don’t know why, but maybe [it’s because of] overambition, or maybe lack of discipline in the party [the NPP]. I think it is so wrong.”

He recounted how the party carried out research to identify which candidates were viable after 17 candidates expressed an interest in the race for the party’s flagbearer position in 2006.

The move, Mpiani said, led to the party placing limits on the number of candidates who could run for the leadership of the NPP.