NPP Primaries: The system was engineered to favour Dr. Bawumia – Edudzi Tamakloe

The director of legal affairs of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Edudzi Tamakloe, has said that the system for the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) super delegates conference was set up to favour Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.

He disclosed that looking at how things panned out during the super delegates conference, it was obvious that any government official who did not vote for the vice president would be targeted by the Akufo-Addo-led government as they did to some members of parliament in the 2014 primaries.

Edudzi Tamakloe’s claims hinge on the fact that while other flagbearer hopefuls petitioned the party's leadership for all delegates to converge at the same venue for the super delegates conference, Dr. Bawumia did not partake in the said petition because he knew the decision was in his favour.

Speaking in a panel discussion on TV3 on Saturday, August 28, 2023, the director of legal affairs of the NDC stated that Dr. Bawumia’s wide margin win does not come as a surprise to him because the system for the super delegates conference was to his benefit.

“If you look at what has happened, in fact, on Saturday, you will notice that the whole system was engineered to favour Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia. Look, there are ten aspirants, nine out of the ten wrote a petition to the [NPP] National Council and said, Listen, we are going into an election.

"The first time we tried a super delegate system was in 2014. The record will show that nine MPs in the Ashanti region who openly campaigned for Allan after the 2014 primaries, became the subject. They were targeted by the Akufo-Addo people.

“With this background, let all the delegates come to a particular point so that they cannot be targeted or the regions cannot be targeted. Nine petitioned, and one, that is the establishment candidate, Dr.Mahamudu Bawumia did not partake in the petition, because the status quo favors him," he said.

Background

Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia emerged as the leading contender of the New Patriotic Party Super Delegates Conference.

Per the results, Dr Bawumia garnered 629 votes representing 68.15 percent of the total votes cast. The results are based on figures collated by 17 out 17 voting centres across the country.

Behind him is Assin Central lawmaker, Kennedy Agyapong who polled 132 votes representing 14.30 percent while Alan Kyerematen polled 95 votes representing 10.29 percent in the elections which took place on Saturday August 26, 2023.

Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto secured the fourth spot for the party’s presidential primaries with 36 votes representing 3.90%.

Boakye Agyarko and Francis Addai-Nimoh tied in 5th position with 9 votes each representing 0.98%.

Other candidates who contested in the elections were Joe Ghartey with 4 votes, Kwadwo Poku with 3 votes, Kwabena Agyepong with 5 votes while Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku failed to secure a single vote.

The Super Delegates Conference is aimed at reducing the pool of contenders vying for the party's presidential candidacy in the upcoming 2024 general election.

Ten candidates from the NPP participated in the race, with the objective of selecting five candidates who will proceed to another round of voting in November this year

The final round will determine the substantive candidate of the NPP for the presidential election ahead of the 2024 general elections.

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Watch the interview below

If you look at what has happened, you will notice that the whole system was engineered to favour Vice President Dr. Bawumia - Edudzi Tameklo shares his take on the just ended NPP Super Delegates Congress#TV3NewDay pic.twitter.com/9vlnyznU9a

— #TV3GH (@tv3_ghana) August 28, 2023