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Communication Minister Dr Edward Omane Boamah has said Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko is one of the main reasons Nana Akufo-Addo can never ascend to the presidency.

“You see Gabby Asare Otchere Darko is part of the reason why Nana Akufo-Addo will never be president of this country,” Dr Omane Boamah said on Joy FM’s special end-of-year edition of its news and current affairs programme ‘newsfile’ at the Coconut Grove Hotel on Saturday.

Dr Omane Boamah’s comment was in response to a rebuttal from Mr Otchere-Darko to an earlier assertion he (Omane Boamah) made to the effect that the current troubles in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) can be put down to the poor leadership skills of flagbearer Nana Akufo-Addo.

This was Mr Otchere-Darko’s rebuttal:

“First of all, it appears that their [NDC’s] concern is about Akufo-Addo. Akufo-Addo doesn’t appoint who becomes chairman of the party. He cannot hire and fire like the President does if he is surrounded by incompetent ministers. Get that clear,” he told Dr Omane Boamah.

Secondly, Mr Otchere-Darko continued: “This is not the first time that Akufo-Addo has become flagbearer. He lost to Kufuor in 1998, and we did not see this kind of problems. OK! He was a Minister, he served and he has been a flagbearer, he even brought onboard those who contested against him to work with him. The only things that have changed are those who are chairman, general secretary, national organiser, but the flagbearer remains the same. So, if that same flagbearer was there in 2008 and 2012 and you had no difficulty, I don’t think it is fair to your common sense to see him as the problem.”

“You just use a bit of commonsense,” Mr Otchere-Darko told Dr Omane Boamah, “because this is a man who has been there. You have been here, you have the same presidential candidate, he hasn’t had any problem bringing onboard those who contested against him, and so, I think really, let’s put the propaganda aside.”

Dr Omane Boamah then replied: “Your response this morning clearly demonstrates [my point]. And you see, per your closeness to your flagbearer, if I were you, I’ll be measured in the way I go about my business. Talk to your party people, what they think and say about you. This is not the first time you have done this on a newsfile programme and I think that you can do better than this.”