Politics of Wednesday, 1 February 2023

Source: TheoNews

I won't step down for anyone - Kennedy Agyapong

MP for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong MP for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong

The New Patriotic Party Presidential hopeful, Kennedy Agyapong has rubbished the claims that he is likely to step down from the party’s upcoming presidential primaries since he is doing the bidding of another aspirant.

According to him, those claims are false and thus urged his teeming supporters to treat such reports with contempt.

He emphatically said that “Read my lips, I am not doing the bidding of anybody. I am genuinely contesting to become the President because I can do it better.”

He noted that “I am 62 years old, and I believe I am old and experienced enough to also contest and become the President of our country on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party in 2024”.

Speaking on Net2 TV, he insisted that his decision to become the president in 2024 on the ticket of the NPP is non-negotiable.

“I am surprised because the support is coming from angles and corners. Even those in NDC and my own NPP members are supporting my bid".

“Some people that I don’t know in person, I am told, have erected my billboards in the Northern parts of the country to support my ambition”, he said with a smile on his face.

Sounding happy, he said other people have printed his (Kennedy’s) campaign T-Shirts and caps to help him, stressing that he would surely become president in 2024.

According to him, he would win the upcoming NPP presidential primaries and go ahead to win the ultimate (presidential elections), slated for December 2024.

On another engagement, speaking to a cross-section of his supporters in the United States, Agyapong stressed that he was more of a leader than a politician, explaining that as a leader, he was focused more on national development whereas politicians are focused on the next election.

He said, “I don’t want to be president for eight years, I only want to be president for four years, challenge me and see how it will be done, and there is a difference between a leader and a politician".

“A leader is the one who thinks of the development of his country and takes bold decisions irrespective of the repercussions. And the politician is the one who thinks of tomorrow’s election and therefore is not bold to take decisions”.

“And so, I don’t think of tomorrow’s election, I think of today and how I can make a difference,” he stressed adding that even if he was going to spend the full eight-year constitutional term, “Ghanaians will decide after four years, I won’t be afraid, I will invest in Ghana and create employment for the youth,” he said to a loud applause.

Mr. Agyapong, who is hoping to succeed President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as leader of the NPP going into the 2024 elections has a hallmark of speaking truth to power without fear or favour irrespective of which political party is in power is a rare positive trait among his peers.