Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, a flag-bearer aspirant for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has urged other presidential aspirants of the party from different factions to work toward a common goal after the presidential primaries.
"We must work toward a common goal following the presidential primary so that whoever wins will be supported and helped to win the general election in 2024," he emphasized.
Mr. Agyepong cautioned against tribal and religious politics, which had characterized the campaigns of some flagbearer candidates and could have disastrous consequences for the party's electoral prospects in the 2024 elections.
He indicated that it did not cultivate unity, peace, harmony, or knowledge among the party's rank-and-file, and he urged those who engaged in such actions to refrain from doing so, given that the country had been practicing democracy for 30 years.
"I trust the various camps of our flag-bearer candidates will be able to unite and fight for a common goal after the elections, which must be free of infighting, backstabbing, animosity, tribal and religious sentiments.
"It is crucial that we do not organize politics based on tribes, religion, or even money or connections, because it does not help and does not also foster unity, peace, harmony, and knowledge within the party, and every day I implore the top hierarchy of the NPP, in whose 30 years of democracy we take pride, to protect and preserve it.
"When you travel outside Ghana and identify yourself as a Ghanaian, you are admired," Mr. Agyapong admonished. "We should not allow such negative issues to derail our progress, growth, and development of our envious democratic governance."
His remark was in response to claims made by Eugene Boakye Antwi, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Subin Constituency in the Ashanti Region of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), that the party should not worry much about winning votes from areas with high Muslim or "Northern" populations but rather focus its efforts on predominantly Akan or Christian areas because those areas had always given the NPP votes and will help it win the 2024 elections to end eight years of political stalemate.
According to him, the empirical evidence demonstrated that the NPP derived political power, assistance, support, authority, and existence from Akan-dominated or Christian-dominated regions of the country, and despite criticisms regarding his engagement in tribal and religious politics, tribalism could not be entirely separated from the nation's politics.