Dr. Kwabena Duffuor
A former Minister of Finance during the erstwhile John Evans Atta Mills administration, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, yesterday said his long years of support and service to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the country is on record and undisputed.
The one-time Governor of the Bank of Ghana, who is seeking to lead the NDC in the 2024 elections, debunked claims that he is doing an NPP bidding by seeking to distract the 2024 presidential hopes of former President John Dramani Mahama, the 2016 and 2020 defeated presidential candidate of the NDC.
Some members of the opposition party, mainly loyalists of Mr Mahama, who has also declared his intention to run for the presidency again, have accused Dr Duffuor of deliberately working against the former President’s chances of winning the 2024 presidential election.
But the former Minister of Finance has rubbished the allegations, saying: “Those claims are just wicked and I pray that those people will put their thinking caps on.”
“It is very unfair. Who will serve a country for four years and will not accept anything, no salary, no allowances, no ex-gratia? Why would I be a mole when money is not my problem,” Dr Duffour said in GhOne TV interview yesterday.
Rawlings’ choice
According to Dr Duffuor, the founder of the NDC, the late President Jerry John Rawlings, in 2018, urged him to run for the flagbearership of the party, but he declined because the timing was not right.
“I felt the time was not right when Rawlings called on me to contest. He said he was going to lead my campaign himself, but I didn’t. The only reason I’m doing so now is because I think the party can still do better and it must involve everyone,” he stated.
On the claims that he is old, Dr Duffour wondered: “Why should age matter? The focus should be on what the person brings to the fore and what they are capable of delivering when given the job, and my track records proves what I can do in almost every sphere of the economy. My record and the work we are capable of doing should be the driver of the conversation, not age.”
