Is it because Wontumi is in trouble? – Political Scientist questions NPP’s sudden U-turn over Mahama apology

Political analyst Dr. Kwame Asah-Asante is not convinced by the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) reported decision to apologise to President John Dramani Mahama over past insults, particularly those from Ashanti Regional Chairman Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi.

In a sharp-toned reaction on Morning Starr with Naa Dedei Tettey, Dr. Asah-Asante said the move reeks of political convenience rather than genuine remorse.

“I was surprised,” he said. “Because if you look at the insult hurled at Mahama, his family, Professor Jane Naana [Opoku-Agyemang], and the Vice President, I was so surprised that this is what our politics has turned into.”

Dr. Asah-Asante questioned the timing of the apology and suggested it may be more about Wontumi’s recent troubles than a moral reckoning.

“Let me ask Dr. Afriyie, why have they found it necessary now to go and apologize?” he queried.

“Is it the case that Wontumi is going through what he’s going through, that is why they are going there?”

He stressed that if the party had truly disapproved of Wontumi’s earlier outbursts, they should have publicly condemned him back then.

“One would have thought that if they meant well—if what they are saying, they believe in that 2024—they would have come out to condemn Wontumi in that respect.

“They all kept quiet, allowed it to slide, with a hope that they will maintain power forever.”