The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has agreed to select a running mate for their 2024 presidential candidate, Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia from the Ashanti region.
This was revealed by the first Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu in an interview with Joynews.
It is unknown who the candidate may be but it is an open secret that the Ashanti region remains the biggest strong hold of the NPP.
Some names have been popped up as potential running mates for the vice president. These include, the Minister for Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh; Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei -Owusu and Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum.
Joseph Osei-Owusu indicates that the party has for a long time agreed that if Dr. Bawumia emerges the winner of the presidential primaries, his running mate will be selected from the Ashanti Region.
“It is generally agreed in the party that if Bawumia wins, his running mate should come from the Ashanti region,” he said.
Asked whether Dr Bawumia has consented to that agreement, he replied “I think so.”
The First Deputy Speaker said he believes the perfect candidate for the position should have some values such as integrity, the person who commands respect in and out of the party to complement that of the new leader.
According to him, even though the candidates mentioned so far to be jostling for the position meet the criteria, “they aren’t the only group of people who are eligible to be nominated and I think that the field is wide.”
Asked why he is taking himself out of the equation although rumoured to be a candidate, he said: “I think that we should allow the man the space to look at the whole game board and select.”
“I agree that the person must come from the Ashanti region because, in our party’s dynamics, it would help a lot to select from the Ashanti region,” he said.
He explained that the selection of a candidate from the Ashanti region would give “the people in the region confidence that the party values their immense contribution to the party.”
Meanwhile, a member of the Bawumia campaign team, Sammi Awuku has shot down suggestions that Dr Bawumia, is already considering his choice of a running mate for the 2024 polls.