Pius Enam Hadzide, an aide to New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer hopeful Dr Bryan Acheampong, has firmly dismissed claims that his boss has resorted to tribal or religious appeals in his campaign.

Speaking on Channel One TV on Monday, 25 August, Mr Hadzide stressed that Dr Acheampong has never urged party members to support him on the basis of ethnicity or faith.

“I would like to put on record that Dr Bryan Acheampong has not made any tribal comments,” he said.

“At no point has he asked members of the party, its leadership or delegates to vote for him because of tribe or religion. He is not the one making such remarks and cannot be accused of doing so.”

His clarification follows intense speculation on social media after a video clip circulated suggesting that Dr Acheampong had blamed fellow flagbearer contender and former Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, for the long-running Mamprusi–Kusasi conflict in northern Ghana.

Over the weekend, the Acheampong campaign issued a statement rejecting the allegation, describing the video as “mischievously pieced together and venomously captioned.”

The campaign maintained that Dr Acheampong’s words had been deliberately taken out of context to create a false impression of tribal hostility.

“Dr Acheampong has not, at any point, blamed former Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia for the Kusasi–Mamprusi conflict,” the statement said.

“In the original video, he made it clear that Dr Bawumia was a victim of circumstances rather than a source of division.”