The running mate to Dr Mahamudu Bawumia in the 2024 election, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, says his controversial \u201cmo Kwame Nkrumah\u201d remark was taken out of context and completely misunderstood.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Joy News\u2019 PM Express on Tuesday, the former Manhyia South MP insisted that the public outrage that followed the comment did not reflect his intent.<\/p>\n
Dr Opoku Prempeh, aka NAPO, said the statement was made in a specific political moment and should not have been interpreted as an attack on Ghana\u2019s first President.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that time, you can\u2019t go into the evidence, so I made a statement \u2018mo Kwame Nkrumah\u2019, and I subsequently had to go to Nkroful and speak to the Chiefs there and explain the contest in which the statement was made,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He explained that political communication can be easily distorted and that leaders must take responsibility when their words create confusion.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause in politics, if somebody misunderstands, misquotes, or you allow your communication to be misread or to be misunderstood, you have to own it. So I owned it, and that is why I issued the statement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Dr. Opoku Prempeh compared his remark to football banter to underscore that he was not attacking Kwame Nkrumah.\u00a0 \u201cNot that the context was wrong. I\u2019m a die-hard fan of Kumasi Asante Kotoko. So if I\u2019m teasing Olympic supporters and I said \u2018mo Oly fuo no\u2019, I\u2019m not really insulting Olympic fans. I\u2019m just upping Kotoko fuo because I am one of them,\u201d he explained.\u00a0 He maintained that the Nkrumah reference had been \u201ctotally misunderstood\u201d.<\/p>\n
The NPP running mate acknowledged the strong reaction that followed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt generated a lot of uproar. Nkrumahists got furious, and I apologise to them,\u201d he said. But he urged critics to reflect on Nkrumah\u2019s own writings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey should go and read Kwame Nkrumah\u2019s\u00a0Last Days from Guinea<\/em>\u00a0and look at how he described his own Convention People\u2019s Party (CPP). He said the CPP was dead. That\u2019s Nkrumah\u2019s own writing, so we don\u2019t say these things out of lack of respect. You know me. I have friends everywhere,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n Dr. Opoku Prempeh\u2019s comment in July 2024\u2014stating that no president, including Kwame Nkrumah, had outperformed President Akufo-Addo\u2014triggered widespread backlash when he was unveiled as the New Patriotic Party\u2019s running mate.<\/p>\n Critics, including the Convention People\u2019s Party, described his remark as disrespectful. The episode reignited concerns about what many opponents have called his \u201carrogant\u201d public posture.<\/p>\n On PM Express, however, Dr Opoku Prempeh insisted that the debate was driven by misinterpretation rather than intent.<\/p>\n He stressed that the statement was political rhetoric, not an attack on Ghana\u2019s founding leader.<\/p>\n Disclaimer: The content provided on Fish FM Online is for informational and entertainment purposes only. While we strive for accuracy, we do not guarantee the completeness, reliability, or timeliness of the information presented. Fish FM Online and its affiliates are not responsible for any errors or omissions, nor for any decisions made based on the content available on our platform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The running mate to Dr Mahamudu Bawumia in the 2024 election, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, says his controversial \u201cmo Kwame Nkrumah\u201d remark was taken out of context and completely misunderstood. Speaking on Joy News\u2019 PM Express on Tuesday, the former Manhyia South MP insisted that the public outrage that followed the comment did not reflect […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123457,"featured_media":14625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[4582,2575],"class_list":["post-14624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-news","tag-kwame-nkrumah","tag-napo-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/123457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14624"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14626,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14624\/revisions\/14626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}