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Dr. Amakye Boateng, a Political Science lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, KNUST, has described as problematic, the recent endorsement of Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.

The Minister said in an interview with Metro TV last week that the Vice President had shown that he was a capable hand to take over after his boss, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

The claim, according to the lecturer, does not bode well for the party going into the keenly awaited 2024 elections.

“What is going on in the party will spell the downfall of the party,” he said on Accra-based Neat FM on Monday, April 11, 2022.

He added: “Ghanaians will not allow the political patronage playing up in the party. I believe Ghanaians will not let this happen in the body politics of the country.”

The academic also avers that such premature endorsements do not help in party cohesion especially when there are known procedures that the party employs at specific times to elect its leaders.

What did Ofori-Atta say:

On the sidelines of the April 7 State of the Economy address delivered by Bawumia in Kasoa, the Finance Minister said:

“I think it lays out very distinctly what we have done as a party and the capacity to take us to the transformation level that we are talking about.

"Clearly for me, also makes it very evident to Ghanaians that we have the type of person who can lead after Nana Akufo-Addo leaves and that is reassuring,” he told Metro TV on the sidelines of the event Thursday.

Bawumia is seen as a leading candidate in the race for the New Patriotic Party flagbearership slot. If he is to contest, he is likely to come up against the likes of Alan Kyerematen, Joe Ghartey and Boakye Agyarko.