The Chairperson of the Council of Elders for the governing New Patriotic Party NPP, Hackman Owusu Agyeman, says aspiring presidential candidates will be held responsible for every misconduct by their followers.

According to him, the party will not allow any candidate or their followers to write of say disparaging words about their opponents before during and after the primaries.

The former minister said this in an interview on the Kumasi-based OTEC 102.9 FM's morning show Nyansapo, on Monday, June 5, 2023, hosted by Captain Koda.

"We will run the party like a football club, any candidate who will allow his followers to say or do something contrary to the rules of the primaries will be penalized".

"This is an internal election and we expect candidates and their followers to act or speak with decorum, avoid washing the party's dirty lining in public in order not to give our opponents a weapon to attack us," he said.

In the race to become the flagbearer for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the upcoming presidential elections, 10 aspirants have so far picked up nomination forms to contest the party’s primary slated for November 4, 2023.

The aspirants who have expressed their interest to lead the party and eventually the country are former Minister of Energy, Boakye Agyarko, who was the first to pick the forms, a former NPP general secretary and presidential spokesperson, Kwabena Agyei Agyepong; a former Member of Parliament (MP) for Mampong, Francis Addai Nimoh; a former minister of state, Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku and a former Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto.

The rest are Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Alan Kyerematen, former Trade and Industry Minister, Kennedy Agyapong, MP for Assin Central and Joe Ghartey, former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and a certain Kojo Poku.

Each aspirant has a unique background and political experience, and they each bring their own ideas and vision to the table.