<<Print>>Seasoned Journalist, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako says President Nana Akufo-Addo should expel from his government any of his appointees who aspire to become flagbearer of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The NPP will on Saturday, December 18, 2021 hold a conference at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi, Ashanti Region, to deliberate on party matters.
Ahead of the conference, the leadership has warned their members and supporters not to mount billboards nor campaign for any person.
“Prior to and during the conference from December 18 to 20, 2021, no billboards and or signboards, banners or any kind of outdoor signage with the images and or names of individual members, with or without the consent of the individual, shall be acceptable. This applies to the area within the Greater Kumasi Metropolis. All such displays, if put up already, should be removed,” a statement by the party read.
It continued; “Any person, with or without his or her consent, whose image is flaunted on any advocacy material and who does not take active steps to desist from any public display of aspiration for a position within the precincts of Greater Kumasi runs a higher risk of disqualification in the event nominations are declared open.”
This notwithstanding, there are reports of billboards showcasing some leading members of the party for Presidential positions being mounted in Kumasi ahead of the conference.
Recounting a similar thing that happened during the reign of Ex-President J.A Kufour, Kweku Baako charged President Akufo-Addo to crack the whip on his officials who cannot discipline themselves but reveal their intentions now to contest the flagbearership race.
Making his submissions on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo'', he said; "It was in 2007 that this thing started, meaning the third year in the second term. This is the first year in the secon term. It doesn't make sense. I believe the President should begin to use reshuffle as part of his bargaining chip . . . He should start using it; crack the whip indirectly there and then!"
He urged the President not to favour any person stating emphatically that, "no matter how big you are, if in the first year, you can't hold onto your Presidential ambitions in check, then you must as well just not be in the system . . . if they will prematurely ejaculate before even the third year, if I were the President, I would adopt this method . . . if you won't reshuffle them, get them to resign".