Dennis Amfo-Sefah, Tema West Constituency Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), has rebuked the Majority leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu over his 'no akan' flagbearer comment.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Suame constituency courted controversy and verbal attacks when he averted that it will be unwise for the NPP to choose an akan flagbearer again.

“Inwardly, I know I have the competence to lead the party but is it wise that after two Akans – former President Kufuor and current President Akufo-Addo – to present a flagbearer candidate with different ethnicity . . . I think it is not good for a party which has been accused by some as being overly Akanistic in nature. But not everybody would agree with me and that is the beauty of democracy,” he is quoted to have said in an interview.

Call for Resignation

Meanwhile, a group calling itself ‘Concerned Northern Grassroot’ of the NPP are calling for Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu who is also the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs to resign.

According to them, “it is very important for party functionaries like Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu and his likes to know that even though the NPP calls itself Danquah-Busia-Dombo tradition, we all are mindful of the fact that these three blocks do not adequately represent the NPP . . . if he is not above those directives by the National Executive Committee of which he is a member, then he should resign as our leader of the August House for showing bad fate and setting a very bad precedence”.

Contributing to a panel discussion on Neat FM's M'e Man Nti' programme, Dennis wondered why the Majority leader flouted the directive from the executives of the party that no one should engage in the 'flagbearer' debate.

"He has expressed his view but we refuse to accept it. He should not have made those comments in the first place. I'm surprised; as a Majority Leader who should know better will be making such statements bringing division into the party . . . if that is the case then he should hand over his position as the Majority Leader since he is an Akan. Does it mean he will vote against any akan candidate? it's sad that such comment came from him," he bemoaned.

" . . but why should he even make such statements at this time when Akufo-Addo is still setting up his government. It was needless for him to make such comments. Akufo-Addo has not even finished his term and there is already a debate on who takes over from him, why do you want to push him out?" he further queried.