Majority Leader and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu has advised the New Patriotic Party (NPP) not to allow any incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) to stand unopposed in the party’s upcoming primaries if other qualified members express the interest to contest them, MyNewsGh.com reports.

Though the Suame legislator believes that the interests of the government can be well pursued in Parliament by safeguarding the longevity of members on the side of the ruling party, he says nobody who is qualified per the constitution of the party must be forced to forfeit their aspirations to an incumbent legislator.

The six-term MP was speaking in an interview on Kumasi-based Angel FM monitored by MyNewsGh.com when he made the pronouncements.

He said what the party must guard against is the smear campaigns against incumbent MPs by some prospective candidates just to make the former look bad in the eyes of the voting public and the monetization of the voting process.

“We still have a crop of members on our side who need time to mature in the house, so it would not be helpful for the constituents to be changing them even in their third terms; but if another person is so qualified by the constitution to contest them, they must not be barred”.

He said he has heard calls that his constituents who see him as “the pillar of Parliament” wants him to run-opposed in the upcoming primaries and also aware of some plans by the party at the regional and national levels in that regard, but he is ready for a contest.

He also said he would leave Parliament after 2024 even if he wins the upcoming primaries, because he believes that, by that time, he would have been able to bring his rich experience to bear on the new members and strengthened the house to the level that would appreciable to all.

Hon Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu also advised the NPP to take a cue from the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the conduct of the upcoming primaries.