President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has congratulated winners of last Saturday’s primaries of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and has since met the losing aspirants, particularly the Members of Parliament (MPs) who lost their bids to get re-elected for the December 7 elections.
President Akufo-Addo observed that defeats are normal in politics, rallying the losing aspirants to support the winners for victory in the parliamentary elections.
“I congratulate all those who came out winners and got the opportunity to represent our party at the elections in December,” he said at a ceremony held in Accra to unveil him as the party’s presidential nominee for the 2020 elections.
“As always happens during elections, there were losers,” he noted.
“Many of these people are important personalities in our party and are playing critical roles in Parliament as are all the others. But those of us in politics, we know that these things happen.
“We know [and] to use the famous words of our one-time General Secretary, we have to continue to fear delegates.”
‘Living example’
In all about 42 sitting MPs lost their bids to retain their candidature.
Among these are key occupants of chairmanship roles of committees in Parliament. These include Finance Committee Chairman Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah, who lost in New Juaben South, Education Committee Chairman William Agyapong Quiattoo of Akim Oda, and Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee Ben Abdallah Banda of Offinso South.
President Akufo-Addo advised them to remain firm and take a cue from his losses in the past in bids to become president.
“We will remain firm in our belief that losing one election cannot and does not mean the end of your political life.
“I am a living example.”
The president said he was convinced the same message he gave these MPs when he met them at the Jubilee House on Thursday went down well.
‘It shouldn’t happen again’
He, however, condemned the excesses some supporters went in breaking the safety protocols put in place to slow the spread of coronavirus.
He said it should be the first and last.
“My dear friends and colleagues, this past weekend our party came to the end of a process that we have to go through to prepare for elections in December.
“Unfortunately in our enthusiasm and sheer unbridled joy, we broke some of the covid-19 safety protocols. It should not happen again.”
By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|3news.com|Ghana