The Office of the Minister for Agriculture, Dr. Afriyie Akoto, has denied media reports that he is inciting party supporters against President Akufo-Addo.
Dr. Afriyie Akoto at a meeting with some New Patriotic Party (NPP) executives in the Northern Region is reported to have accused the President, Nana Akufo-Addo of neglecting the party and making it unpopular.
The claims have courted disaffection for the minister, but speaking to the Press Secretary to the Minister, Issah Alhassan Ridwan said, although the Minister indeed met the executives, he did not make any such pronouncements.
“As a minister and senior government official, he empathized and sympathized with them that but for the good works of the president and his goodwill, probably NPP would have lost the election, so he encouraged them not to despair but to stay committed and support the president. He promised that for some of the issues that they have raised, he will raise with the president, and in his personal capacity, he will organize and make things better. That was what he discussed with them. The claims that he incited supporters against the president and spoke ill about him is never true,” he said.
Afriyie Akoto’s press secretary also rejected allegations that the minister paid monies to the party executives in the meeting, noting that the claims were being fuelled by detractors to impugn the reputation of the minister.
“It is not true that the minister paid such an amount. This meeting was called at the behest of the executives and not the minister, and so the claims are shocking. It is the work of detractors, and it is something that they have been doing since the beginning of the year. We want to put on record that he had a meeting with some party executives, but they were not even up to 30 and no money was shared,” he said.
The Agric Minister is rumoured to be lacing his boots to contest the NPP’s presidential primaries ahead of the 2022 elections.
This was somehow given credence when President Akufo-Addo at a recent engagement with the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, made fun of the Minister who was with him as one of the people seeking to be President.
