Former Member of Parliament for Kwadaso Constituency Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, who is the current Minister for Agriculture, has hinted at contesting the flagbearership race of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
He intimated that like any other politician, he wants to get to the highest level of the political ladder.
Therefore, he indicated, he would not pass up any opportunity to be President of Ghana.
Dr Afriyie Akoto gave the hint on Thursday, August 11 when he was interviewed on TV3‘s New Day by Johnnie Hughes.
“Of course, who doesn’t want to go to the highest level,” he retorted to a question on him harbouring presidential ambitions.
“If the people who decide decide that I should be the one [to lead them], I will be honoured.”
Some supporters of the former Ranking Member of the Food and Agric Committee of Parliament have been spotted at party programmes in T-shirts calling on him to stand as President.
Billboards of Dr Afriyie Akoto have also been seen in some parts of the country, advertising his interest to succeed Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as the next Presidential Candidate of the NPP.
But in the interview on Thursday, he pointed out that he was not responsible for those billboards.
“If you see my billboards, you see a lot of billboards?” he answered, adding that it will be a joke for anybody to suggest that he goes to dig the ground and erect his billboard.
He also indicated that he remains one of the best Ministers of Food and Agriculture in the last 30 years, pinning his trump card on the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) introduced in 2017.
“If you look at all the sectors, the agric sector stands out as the sector which is doing well,” he said, observing that the sector grew by 4.9 per cent in 2019 to 8.1 per cent in 2021.
“Planting for Food and Jobs is a good success,” he stressed.
