Campaign Team of Vice President, Dr Mahamud Bawumia is fighting off claims that government appointments have been coerced to support his candidacy.

According to the spokesperson of the team, Nana Akomea, being a Vice President does not automatically make him an establishment candidate in the contest.

He further questioned why Dr Bawumia is being referred to as “an establishment candidate.”

“We used to have a Vice President who contested in 2008 and no one called him an establishment candidate. Why are we calling this one [Dr Bawumia] the establishment candidate? Is it because the President supports him?

"Because the President himself has come out categorically that I don’t anybody,” said the Spokesperson for Dr Bawumia’s campaign, Nana Akomea.

According to him, any of the 10 aspirants could have the president’s support due to their ties with him.

“When we go to the campaign, I see a lot of government appointees like myself and I am happy. I am happy that these people are also on the campaign but I do not think any of them is supporting Dr Bawumia because the President has called them and asked them to do so,” he added.

Dr Bawumia is one of the New Patriotic Party's 10 presidential primary candidates, who will attend a special delegates conference on August 26 to reduce the number of candidates to five before the national conference in November to choose a candidate to lead the NPP to the 2024 general elections.

But former Attorney General and Ambassador to Canada under the Akufo-Addo government, Ayikoi Otoo says, proceeding with Vice President, Dr. Bawumia as the NPP flagbearer for the 2024 general elections will not be right.

According to him, the evidence on the grounds does not support the facts that Dr Bawumia is competent to manage the economy.

He suggested that Dr Bawumia bows out in the race, adding that he may not have a message for the 2024 election.

“…He has done his part … we will always remember him for whatever he did including digitalization. But to proceed beyond, we just don’t think it’s right,” he said.

The camp of former Agric Minister also says it is time for Dr Afriyie Akoto to lead the NPP, taking his track record in government into consideration.