A Deputy Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Ernest Owusu Bempah has dismissed claims that the running mate to the flagbearer of the party, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh (NAPO) is arrogant.
Owusu-Bempah says “Napo’s so-called arrogance is a total myth. He is a proven performer with a high confidence level.”
He described the Mahyia South Member of Parliament as a person who has always shown gravitas and dignity.
Following the unanimous endorsement of Dr Opoku Prempeh as running mate to the flagbearer by the National Council of the NPP on Thursday, July 4, critics, mainly members and sympathizers of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have described him as arrogant.
But in a statement, Owusu-Bempah said “Every single claim the haters have made is completely false. Napo is the perfectly brilliant result of our wider politics, highly efficient and competent, which is why the haters are putting so much effort into inventing reasons to hate more.”
Below is his full statement…
The Napophobic Arrogance Leadership And Election 2024
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It was Shakespeare who said that it’s always just when a chappie is feeling particularly top-hole, and more than usually braced with things in general that Fate sneaks up behind him with a bit of lead piping.
That is so true, and it’s all very interesting relating this Shakespearian reasoning to events leading up to the outdoring of Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh(Napo) as Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s running-mate for the 2024 elections.
To all intent and purposes, Napo’s nomination to partner Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, coming as it did within months of an expected general election, has helped create an extraordinarily febrile atmosphere and political upheavals.
Packs of sympathisers of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) are even now poring over the business affairs and social connections of Napo simply because they want to dig out more dirt to muddy the waters. Switch on any radio talk show and you will hear comparisons with the scandal-ridden final gasps of the last NDC government.
In fact, the Napophobic fever has caught up with the entire nation and the haters are now focusing their sights on the man of the moment.
But their moral outrage over the fact that Napo has many admirable qualities deserves some scrutiny.
All over the globe from the US to Europe all the way to North America and to the Far East, there are leaders who were assumed to be arrogant but turned out to be the most successful of all.
In Germany, Angela Merkel was thought to be arrogant but she changed the face of German politics with far-reaching reforms and was thoroughly halled as the Savior.
In France, the arrogant tag was placed around the neck of Manuel Valls and before him Jean-Marc Ayrault then in the end these leaders came out as the most successful French leaders ever.
Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand is another victim of the arrogant tag but turned out to be a top-notch leader.
In China, Xi Jinping’s new era is another example of a strongman overriding the arrogance tag.
In Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan actually strengthened his hold on the country by overcoming the Arrogance of the label.
In Brazil, 40% of those polled by Vanderbilt University a few years back said they would prefer an arrogant posturing performing president than a leader who lacks spine.
Even in the US, from Abraham Lincoln to George Walker Bush senior to George Walker Bush junior to Donald Trump, all of them suffered the Arrogance tag but the world can attest to their exploits.
The list goes on and on, and this trend is not confined to the above mentioned countries alone. In every region of the world, changing times have boosted public demand for more muscular, assertive leadership.
Even in Ghana here, where John Mills and John Mahama were weak and prevaricating in their treatment of errant ministers, Jerry John Rawlings was firm and strongman leader.
In a broader contest, President Akufo-Addo has been firm and decisive.
And this is where the Napo factor come into play.
Let’s face it. Napo’s so-called arrogance is a total myth. He is a proven performer with high confidence level.
Napo has always shown gravitas and dignity.
Every single claim the haters have made is completely false.
Napo is the perfectly brilliant result of our wider politics, highly efficient and competent, which is why the haters are putting so much effort into inventing reasons to hate more.
People just make stuff up. They just make stuff up. We see it in the growth of propaganda. We see it in internet fabrications. We see it in the blurring of lines between news and entertainment. We see the utter loss of shame among NDC followers where they’re caught in a lie and they just double down and they lie some more.
Truth is, the politics of bold and decisive leadership is now on the move. It’s on the move at a pace that would have seemed unimaginable just a few years ago.
And of course, Napo’s astonishing confidence and maturity is certainly the game changer.
Ernest Kofi Owusu Bempah
Deputy Director of Communications, NPP
