Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the former Majority Leader in Parliament, has said his support for Dr Mahamudu Bawumia in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential primary is not for his personal gain.
The former majority leader refuted allegations of supporting the former Vice President for his personal ambition.
Rumours have been spreading, suggesting Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu was backing Dr Bawumia to secure a running mate slot in the position of Speaker of Parliament.
However, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has labelled such claims as false and misleading.
According to him, his support for Dr Bawumia is because he believes the NPP presidential aspirant has the experience and vision to lead the party to victory in 2028.
Speaking on Kumasi-based Pure FM, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu stated, “I have served my party and country with integrity and commitment”.
“My decisions are guided by principle, not personal interest,” Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu added.
In related news, Osei-Kyei Mensah Bonsu has urged his fellow NPP members to acknowledge the mistakes made during their time in power, apologise and move on.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s The Point of View, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu stated, “The way to go is to own up to certain things and move. You remember not too long ago, Dr Bawumia at a forum even offered an apology that we did our best, but given the circumstances that eschew Post-COVID-19, a few things were done perhaps upon reflection, we should have done it better.
For that reason, I apologise for the things that went wrong. We are not angels; we have learnt useful lessons going forward, and we will do much better. Even some within the party took him on, some said if you are apologising, apologies on your part don’t include me. I didn’t do anything wrong”.
He added, “How can somebody speak like that? You are a cabinet minister. Decisions are taken at the cabinet level, a collective decision that comes out. And then we have somebody say we didn’t get everything right, we apologise for the things we didn’t get right, and as a former cabinet minister, you say As for you, you are not part of it”.
Also, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu noted that external and domestic challenges contributed to the NPP’s defeat in the 2024 general elections.
He added, “I can relate to the findings that led to our loss. The Ashanti regional chapter of the enquiry cited four main issues -one being external factors, some strong winds that blew from outside and hit us unprepared. Yes, it affected the economy. But basically attributable to COVID-19, the Russia-Ukraine war, these are force majeures we couldn’t control; they hit us, they had repercussions on us on the economy in particular, especially the meltdown that we experienced.
He emphasised, “The former President [Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo] did so well to protect livelihoods and lives. But it had a toll on the country’s finances, and going forward, it ignited some heat in the system. And then we had to go to the IMF for a bailout.”
He stressed, “Some of the things that we had not intended to do, the domestic debt exchange programme, which affected over 800,000 people. They had families, and so, they were pressed. Then we had other matters, including, in particular, the Russia-Ukraine war, which escalated the cost of many items. Even fertilisers were affected.
“Then we had issues with governance. Post-COVID-19, our backs were to the wall. We had to put the brakes on development projects that affected the lubrication of the system.”