The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Asokwa, Mr. Maxwell Kofi Jumah, has said that if ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor asked him to step down for Ms. Patricia Appiagyei in the NPP parliamentary primary in Asokwa, he would do so. Mr. Jumah, a former Mayor of Kumasi, was reacting to the front page story of last Wednesday's Daily Dispatch - "JAK TO ASK JUMAH TO STEP DOWN FOR PAT?" Speaking on a radio station in Kumasi, Angel FM, Mr. Jumah said, "I am prepared to step down if ex-President Kufuor advised me to do so because I respect him (Kufuor) a lot. However, he has not yet asked me to do so." It will be recalled that Mr. Jumah had alleged that Ms. Appiagyei, who succeeded him as the Mayor of Kumasi, used sexual favours to enable her be appointed to that position. This was when Ms. Appiagyei was reported to be getting ready to face Mr. Jumah in the NPP's primary in Asokwa. There had also been credible reports that ex-President Kufuor had been angered by Mr. Jumah's allegation since he appointed Ms. Appiagyei as Mayor of Kumasi. Last Wednesday's issue of the Daily Dispatch had said that there were credible indications that Mr. Jumah would be asked to step down from contesting the primary in Asokwa by Mr. Kufuor. This, it had been suggested, would be seen as an act of penance towards Ms. Appiagyei. Mr. Jumah, commenting on Angel FM said it was not true that ex-President Kufuor had met him at any meeting and asked him to step down. The Asokwa MP told Angle FM, "we are all in this country. If ex-President Kufuor wants to speak, he does so through Frank Agyekum and not the Daily Dispatch or any other newspaper." In a reaction, the Editor of the Daily Dispatch, Ben Ephson said: "I believe that Ghanaians would not expect ex-President Kufuor to announce publicly that he (Kufuor) had asked Jumah to step down for Ms. Appiagyei." In another development, Mr. Jumah, speaking on another Kumasi radio station, Fox FM, has asked the NPP national executives to increase the parliamentary nomination fees because the present level of GH¢16,000 was on the low side. Source: Daily Dispatch