Newly elected Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dennis Miracles Aboagye, has defended the party’s newly elected First Vice Chairman, Kojo Fosu Boadu, popularly known as Kojo Bamba, against criticism from the National Democratic Congress's Mustapha Gbande.

Mr Aboagye said Mr Bamba has the intelligence, creativity and political experience to hold a senior leadership position in the NDC, arguing that he could even become the party’s chairman without facing serious competition.

Speaking on The Pulse on JoyNews, Mr Aboagye criticised NDC Deputy General Secretary Mustapha Gbande for describing the NPP’s decision to elect Mr Bamba as First Vice Chairman as “backward politics”.

Mr Aboagye said Mr Gbande’s criticism had prompted him to assess his own position and qualifications within the NDC.

He questioned whether Mr Gbande would have been able to win a similar position in the NPP.

“I quickly turned my eye to my party and said, ‘Okay, he’s looking down on my First Vice Chairman. How and why I don’t know.’ But let me look at him. He’s a Deputy General Secretary of the NDC. Would he be a Deputy General Secretary in my NPP?” he asked.

“I looked at the Deputy General Secretary and said, ‘No, I don’t think he would ever win any election in the NPP.’”

Mr Aboagye said he expected Mr Gbande to withdraw his comments about Mr Bamba.

He further said that Kojo Bamba had demonstrated the ability to mobilise delegates and run an effective campaign.

But his strongest defence came when he said Mr Bamba could comfortably rise to the top of the NDC's leadership structure.

“Respectfully, Mustapha, respectfully, respectfully, Bamba could be a chairman in the NDC any day, any time, without competition,” Mr Aboagye said.

“Because of his level of intelligence, his level of innovation, his level of creativity, Chairman Bamba would easily be a chairman of the NDC,” he said.

Mr Aboagye also claimed that people with Mr Bamba’s qualities were not necessarily interested in joining a political party simply because of positions.

“For people like Kojo Bamba, they choose carefully and make sure that they apply their creativity and their intelligence to a political party that will bring progress to this country,” he said.

Mr Aboagye went on to praise Mr Bamba’s political ability, saying he had personally encountered him and had no doubt about his capabilities.

“Chairman Bamba is one of the most intelligent young people you would ever encounter,” he said.

He pointed to Bamba’s recent election, in which he secured 3,116 votes to emerge First Vice Chairman of the NPP at the party’s National Delegates Conference in Kumasi.

Mr Aboagye said the result demonstrated Bamba’s ability to compete in a difficult internal election.

“Somebody who runs an election that has about 7,100 delegates and beat 13 people and becomes first, you think you are better than him?” he asked.

“How did he think he was better than Bamba?”

Read also: ‘Electing Kojo Bamba is backward politics’ – Mustapha Gbande

The NPP Communications Director also rejected the suggestion that a person's background should determine whether they can rise to senior political positions.

He cited the story of NDC MP Francis-Xavier Sosu, saying the lawmaker had risen from a difficult childhood to become a Member of Parliament.

“There’s a Member of Parliament in the NDC, Sosu, who was a street child. He used to carry water by the roadside. He used to sell ice water and hawk dog chains in traffic. Today he’s a Member of Parliament,” he said.

Mr Aboagye said that example showed that political leadership should remain open to people from different backgrounds.

“Is Mustapha Gbande saying that the boys who hawk ice water by the roadside, the boys in the ghetto, the boys who are trying to find their feet because their government has not been able to provide for them and provide better alternatives for them cannot rise to leadership roles in their political party?” he asked.

Mr Aboagye said the debate over Bamba's election went beyond the two political parties, saying that ordinary Ghanaians were paying attention to how the NDC treated people from different backgrounds.

“The people in the ghettos are watching. The people in the streets are watching. The market women are watching. The seamstress, the tailors, the mechanics, the carpenters, they are watching, and they are making a decision,” he said.

He accused the NDC of creating the impression that people without professional qualifications or formal political backgrounds could not attain senior positions within the party.

“Because today, what Mustapha Gbande and the NDC people are saying is that if you’re not a lawyer, if you don’t wear a tie and suit as they do, then you cannot be part of their party,” he said.

“Any day, anytime, Kojo Bamba will protect the NPP and protect our ballot,” he added.