NANA AKWASI Kwarteng, the spokesman for the Operation Save the Suffering Masses (OSSM), a Kumasi-based pressure group has called on His Excellency the Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama, to reconsider and pull out from his intended plans to contest for NPP presidential slot.

“I am not a member of NPP, however my experience in politics tells me that Aliu cannot be the President of Ghana. In order to save his image and the respect some of us have for him, I am appealing to him to throw in the towel and go home honourably when the eight year term is due,” he told The Sun in Kumasi last week.

“I would see him as the greatest political opportunist if he does not throw in the towel,” he insisted.

Delving into his reasons, Nana Kwarteng said the vice-President should be thankful to President Kufuor for picking him from nowhere in the political landscape, to be the number two man in the country for eight years.

“If he does not appreciate this but think he has any chance to lead NPP, then I am afraid he is out to tarnish the little respect some of us have for him,” he said.

He said, if the vice-President has anything good to offer the country, he should wait to offer his support should the NPP come back to power in 2008. “In politics you cannot reap where you have not sown.

Years back some of us, together with some leading NPP guys, were in the streets pressing for good and accountable governance. People like his Excellency, Aliu, were nowhere to be seen. However out of the blue, if he was that lucky to be picked as the vice-president of our land for eight good years, he should be grateful to God and go home honourably with President Kufuor, than to allow himself to be humiliated in the presidential race,” he said.

“The vice-president has never been a front-liner in our politics, and if he thinks his position as vice president for eight years can give him the urge to lead NPP, then he is heading for his political doom.

Nana Kwarteng, was also not enthused about the installation of the vice-president as the development chief of Sogakope. “Our politicians should learn to stop cheap popularity and concentrate on the progress of the country,” he said.

Nana Kwarteng, who was expressing his views about developments in the country and the number of people who have made up their plans to run on the NPP ticket, urged the candidates to take a second look at their decision and chances.

“Some of them even struggle to win their parliamentary seats but they were the first to declare their intention to run for their party,” he told The Sun. He said some of the candidates are just in the race to add to the numbers.