An aide to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, Dr Gideon Boako, says a few mistakes made by the Energy Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, now the running mate to the party's flagbearer, should not be used to define his personality.

According to him, Dr Prempeh, widely known as Napo, is human and, like every other person, is not perfect. Therefore, his few mistakes cannot be used to downplay his competency.

Speaking to JoyNews on July 4, he said “He [Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh] is human, his interactions and engagement with people, you don’t expect that every aspect of his behaviour and character will be accepted by everybody.

“All of us are like that. Even Jesus Christ did not have it smooth, Moses suffered the same leading the Israelites. So we are human. He is also human. We are politicians, we engage people.
"Sometimes a smile may not reflect a smile to somebody. Sometimes an honest opinion and comment about something may be seen as insolence to another person.”

His comment comes in the wake of criticisms by individuals that Napo is not the best suited for the running mate position because he's arrogant.

The Energy Minister, during the peak of the power crisis, is believed to have gotten on the wrong foot of citizens after he had asked that individuals demanding a load-shedding timetable produce one themselves.

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Based on this comment and others, some critics described him as arrogant and proud.

• Read also: Dumsor: ‘It’s very insulting’ – Jinapor on Napo’s posture on timetable demand

Responding to this, Dr Boako insisted that after the incident, the Energy Minister’s reaction proved that he was remorseful and probably did not mean what he said.

“The fact that he even restrained himself from further comments, made sure he stayed in the office for people to work to avert the problem that orchestrated all of these comments is an indication that he is human and even when he does something and he doesn’t mean evil and people see it in the bad light, he sits back to say that let me reflect and change my ways and do something else. That is why we are human.

“I do not think one or two grave exteriors on the part of public figures should be used to judge their competence and their hand-working capabilities,” he added.