Former Majority Leader and Suame MP, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has provided insight into the internal politics within the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that led to his removal and allowed Alexander Afenyo-Markin to take over the position. In an interview on Asempa FM on Tuesday, March 4, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu revealed that he had received prior warnings about the president’s intentions to replace him as majority leader.
“Some of my colleagues, about 80 MPs informed me ahead of time that the president wanted me out. Many MPs encouraged me to fight back, assuring me of their support,” he revealed. However, he chose to step down to avoid deepening divisions within the party. “I didn’t want to be the eye of any storm in the party. I felt I had had enough so I decided to resign and I said it there and then.”
Narrating the incident, he recalled an emergency meeting convened by President Akufo-Addo before the elections, at a time when John Dramani Mahama had yet to announce his running mate.
According to Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the president was concerned about the NPP’s declining influence in the Central Region and the need for a leader who could strengthen their position. “The president argued that the NDC was gaining ground in the Central Region, especially with Naana Opoku-Agyemang likely to be Mahama’s running mate and Ato Forson taking up the Minority Leader position,” he stated.
Akufo-Addo, he claimed, saw Afenyo-Markin, who hails from the Central Region, as a more strategic choice to counter the NDC’s growing influence. Most MPs disagreed with this reasoning, but I saw where things were headed. Rather than make things more complicated, I stepped aside,” he added.
By: Abigail Arthur
