New Patriotic Party's (NPP) flagbearer aspirant, Kennedy Agyapong, has warned his party against engaging in ethnic politics.He warns that doing so will be detrimental to the party's long-term survival and development, echoing his broader plea for fair treatment of all candidates in the next flagbearership competition.

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He claimed that there have been unacceptable incidents in which certain northerners have vowed not to vote in the 2024 elections unless Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia is named NPP flagbearer.“Assuming the Vice President becomes the flagbearer… northerners go out there to say that without one of them, they won’t vote. Let Akans say the same and let’s see what happens.

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“You have some elders saying that Mahama is challenging the NPP to present a northerner against the argument that NPP uses and dumps northerners. So those behind Bawumia seem to be listening to Mahama,” he submitted during a September 24 interview on US-based Kings Radio.

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Agyapong also noted the possibility of northern candidates flooding the ballot paper in 2024, citing former President John Dramani Mahama's nomination with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Hassan Ayariga of the All Progressives Congress (APC).“Mahama is a northerner, assuming he wins; he is a northerner, Ayariga is a northerner and you’d get other northerners.

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Does it mean the face of Ghana politics will be only northerners? What at all is this?“Things people cannot say is what I say, because the NPP must be careful with the tribal politics being played in the north, I am drawing their attention,” Agyapong added.After winning the preliminary round of voting on August 26, Bawumia is in pole position to become the NPP's flagbearer.

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He received more than 68% of total votes cast, finishing first out of a field of ten candidates.The final election is scheduled for November 4, with Bawumia competing against three other candidates: Kennedy Agyapong, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, and Francis

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Addai-Nimoh.

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