Former Majority Leader and Suame MP, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has elucidated the internal dynamics inside the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that resulted in his ousting, thereby facilitating Alexander Afenyo-Markin’s ascension to the position.
Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu revealed in an interview on Asempa FM on Tuesday, March 4, that he had received advance notice of the president’s plan to depose 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.”
Speaking about the incident, he recalled that President Akufo-Addo held an emergency meeting prior to the elections, when John Dramani Mahama had not yet announced his running mate.
The president was worried about the NPP’s waning power in the Central Region and the need for a leader who could bolster their standing, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said.
“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.
He asserted that Akufo-Addo believed that Afenyo-Markin, a native of the Central Region, was a more calculated move to offset the NDC’s expanding power.
“Most MPs disagreed with this reasoning, but I saw where things were headed. Rather than make things more complicated, I stepped aside,” he added.
