Flagbearer aspirant of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, is banking his hopes on farmers to win the party’s presidential primaries.
Dr Akoto said majority of NPP delegates who are farmers benefited from the policies and programmes he initiated during his tenure as the Food and Agric Minister.
Speaking to journalists in Accra, Dr Akoto said his track record makes him the clear favourite.
“Most of these farmers I met in Upper East, Upper West, Savannah regions are also delegates and party constituency executives. The one million farmers are the ones who will bear witness to me. Just go to any farmer and ask about the impact I have had on their lives when I was Minister for Food and Agriculture. And they will confess to you, they will tell you. They will vote for me to win,” Dr Akoto said.
Dr Akoto officially resigned as Minister to focus on his presidential ambition as he wants to lead the New Patriotic Party into the 2024 general elections.
He served as a Member of Parliament for the Kwadaso Constituency in the Ashanti Region for two terms.
In Parliament, he held the position of Deputy Ranking Member and subsequently the substantive Ranking Member for the Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs until 2017 when he was appointed the Minister for Food and Agriculture.
The former Food and Agriculture Minister is in fierce competition with Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Assin Central MP, Kennedy Agyapong, Alan Kyerematen and Francis Addai Nimo who have declared their intentions to contest the party’s flagbearership race.
The others include former MP for Essikado-Ketan, Joe Ghartey, former General Secretary of the NPP, Kwabena Agyapong, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, and former Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko.
The NPP has set November 4, 2023, for its presidential primary to select a flagbearer.
However, if more than five candidates file to run in the primaries, the party will call a Special Congress on August 26.
The nomination period for the presidential primary will begin on May 26 and end on June 24, 2023.
