Marketing strategist Prof Kobby Mensah has expressed his view that the decision of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to reduce the number of candidates in the flagbearer contest was unnecessary.According to him, a higher number of contenders would be beneficial for both the health of the country's democracy and the cohesion of the party.

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He conveyed this perspective during an interview on "The Big Issue," broadcasted on Citi TV on Saturday, August 26, 2023.His remarks come in the aftermath of the recently concluded Super Delegates' Conference of the NPP. This conference aimed to select presidential aspirants who will participate in the forthcoming party primaries scheduled for November 4, 2023.“The party did not address the concerns of 2008 properly.

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There was a public outcry that almost 17 aspirants who were ministers at the time had filed in a very substantial amount of money, and people felt that they had used state resources. However, this is a democracy, and we encourage democracy and participation.

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 “So, if we have 17 aspirants participating, and they are genuine in their participation, and people don’t think that they actually had the funds from state coffers, then why should we have a problem with that? I personally believe that the more participation we have from people in the race, the more beneficial it is to our democratic process.

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”He proceeded to criticize the party's decision to allow a select few, designated as "super delegates," to cast their votes to determine the candidates for November 4th.“There was no need for this administrative decision by a few selected people to reduce the number of candidates if the process was genuine and people felt that the candidates actually relied on their own resources.

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”In the 2008 New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer race, initially, 17 candidates expressed their intention to vie for the party's presidential nomination. However, apprehensions about internal competition within the NPP were rampant during that election period.Nonetheless, at the end of the process, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo emerged as the NPP's flagbearer for the 2008 presidential election.Meanwhile, Dr.

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Bawumia emerged as the frontrunner with the highest number of votes at the recently concluded Super Delegates Conference, held across all 17 voting centres nationwide. Securing the second position was Kennedy Agyapong, the Assin Central MP, who obtained 132 votes, accounting for 14.30%.

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 Former Trade and Industry Minister Alan John Kyeremanteng came third with 95 votes, while former Food and Agriculture Minister Owusu Afriyie Akoto secured the fourth spot with 36 votes. The fifth position was tied between former Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko and former Member of Parliament for Mampong Francis Addai-Nimoh, who both received nine votes each. 

September 2, 2023, the

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NPP will hold a run-off election between Addai-Nimoh and Agyarko to decide who will join the other four candidates in the presidential primary's final round. The run-off will take place at the party's headquarters in Accra, and the same delegates who attended the congress will vote by simple majority to determine the winner. 

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