Former Member of Parliament for Buem, Daniel Ashiamah, has criticised the New Patriotic Party (NPP) following reports that the Member of Parliament for Abetifi, Dr. Bryan Acheampong, is being positioned to contest the party’s presidential primaries ahead of the 2028 elections.
His comments come in reaction to statements by former Asante Akim North MP, Andy Appiah-Kubi, who recently disclosed that internal deliberations and strategic groundwork are underway to prepare Dr. Acheampong as the NPP’s next flagbearer.
Mr. Appiah-Kubi praised the former Food and Agriculture Minister as a unifying figure with the intellectual and business credentials to lead the party to electoral victory.
However, in an interview on Morning Starr with Naa Dedei Tettey, Mr. Ashiamah questioned the criteria the NPP uses in supporting potential leaders, describing Dr. Acheampong as “arrogant” and unfit for the presidency.
He referenced Dr. Acheampong’s alleged involvement in the 2019 Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence, questioning his temperament and leadership style.
Mr. Ashiamah further criticised the NPP’s approach to the 2024 elections, alleging vote-buying tactics and misplaced priorities.
He said, ” Honourable Appiah-Kubi has his right to make a comment and he’s talking to the base of NPP, not Ghanaians. One thing I will like to find out, why is it that NPP people like praising arrogant people to be leaders? [Bryan Acheampong] Isn’t he arrogant? Is he not the one who led people Ayawaso West Wuogon to go and brutalize people over there. If you know you have a presidential ambition from day one of your life, you must know how to do it. As for the campaign rally at his home base, we will not leave the power for NDC. So this is the person we are talking about. You see, we should not just think that this person has money. This person has money, so that is all, that is not it. Because Ghanaians who are going to vote, many of them don’t have money. So they have things that they look up in people who want to lead them. That is what we should know. Which money did NPP distribute didn’t during the 2024 election? Did you see the results? Even the church, they were carrying money to give to a pastor like that. The second chance pastor, this is no secret.”
He cited President John Dramani Mahama’s remarks attributing the recent appreciation of the Ghana cedi to effective leadership rather than financial manipulation.
“We want a common sense, a team, people who can build teams. Did you hear what his excellency John Dramani Mahama talked about? That the cedi appreciation is about effective leadership, he did not say effective money printing.”
