Former New Patriotic Party (NPP) Flagbearer aspirant, Kwabena Adjei Agyepong, has taken the elders of the party to task by asking them to accommodate the ideas of energetic, young and enthusiastic members.
According to him, political leadership was not about age, but about competence and ability to lead. He said most elders of the party were infringing on the abilities of the youth who wanted to lead the party and that should be stopped.
“We have respected the elders and they should respect us in return as youth,” he stated. However, he said one could not be stopped from contesting for the presidential slot in the Party so far as he met the criteria.
"You cannot stop anyone from contesting,” Mr. Agyepong told Adom FM in an interview.
The former press secretary to ex-President Kufuor cited Messrs P.C Appiah Ofori, MP for Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa and Appiah Menka, Chairman of the NPP Council of Elders, as among those guilty of that practice. He was of the view that in the long run, it was the supreme interest of the Party that was being sought for, and cautioned the elders against discouraging the young ones.
"Also," he said, "no barrier should be drawn between them as they were all equally important in the era of the New Patriotic Party (NPP)," adding that, "if the NPP is being considered now and not the Popular Party (PP) or Popular Front Party (PFP) as in the olden days then many people in the Party came into it about the same time."
"If not then, one could argue that the former President John Agyekum Kufuor who had ruled the country for 8 years, might be older than him but was in the Party at the same time with him.
“Nobody has served this party longer than Akufo Addo, Alan Kyeremanteng and myself, as well as a host of others, we all started at the same time,” he said.
Mr. Agyepong pointed out that he could still contest for the party’s presidential slot, but because of personal reasons, has decided to back off.
“I can decide to contest again, and nobody can stop me,” he stated, apparently asking the elders of the party to allow the youth enough room to operate, as political leadership was not about time and years spent in the party.
