Lawyer Ralph Agyapong, the brother of Assin Central Member of Parliament and New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer hopeful, Kennedy Agyapong, has come to the defense of his outspoken sibling.
According to him, Kennedy Agyapong only responds to attacks directed towards him and does not engage in unwarranted confrontations. He emphasized that Kennedy doesn’t have the intention to attack individuals who have not provoked or offended him in any way.
Reacting to his brother’s recent criticism of the Vice President in an interview on Okay FM on July 19, 2023, Ralph explained that Kennedy’s outburst against the vice president was as a result of a recent incident at the Ministry of Finance.
He explained further that a supporter of the Vice President allegedly mocked Kennedy Agyapong’s strategic abilities, forcing him to respond that the supposed strategist candidate had failed in his role, leading to a significant depreciation of the Ghanaian cedi against the US dollar.
“He said someone was talking about him at the Ministry of Finance and the person who was talking about him is known to be a supporter of a particular candidate, and the person was saying that Ken was not a strategist… listen to the issue well because most a times when there is an issue we don’t dive deeper into the genesis.
“…I always say that for Kennedy Agyapong, if you don’t talk about him, he doesn’t have your time. He doesn’t have time to come and talk about you because if you haven’t talked about his matter, he doesn’t think about yo.
“So, he was saying that you people that claimed to be strategists when you cae into office, the dollar was GH¢4 and today the dollar is GH¢12… so when he attacked him, you didn’t wanted him to also talk?”
Kennedy Agyapong criticised the vice president calling out the current administration for the mishandling of the Ghanaian economy which is currently under an IMF-supported programme.
According to him, the depreciation of the local currency against the dollar has significantly impacted on businesses and livelihoods at large.
While he did not mention the name of the Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, it became evident that Kennedy Agyapong was directing his criticisms to the Head of the Economic Management Team of government.
The NPP on Wednesday, July 12, 2023, approved all ten candidates who filed to contest the flagbearership race.
The ten including Kennedy Agyapong, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, and John Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen will be subjected to a super delegates congress where the number will be reduced to five before the party’s main congress on November 4, 2023.
The other contenders in the race are former Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Joe Ghartey, a businessman and energy expert Kwadwo Poku, a former Minister of Energy, Boakye Agyarko.
Completing the list are a former NPP General Secretary, Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, a former MP for Mampong, Francis Addai-Nimoh, a former Minister of State, Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku and a former Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto.