Running mate to Dr Mahamudu Bawumia in the 2024 general election, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has addressed the controversy surrounding his widely criticised “mo Kwame Nkrumah” remark, insisting that the comment was taken out of context and completely misunderstood by the public.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Tuesday, the former Manhyia South MP explained that the outrage that followed the statement did not reflect his true intent. According to him, the remark was made during a specific political moment and should never have been interpreted as an attack on Ghana’s first President.
“At that time, you can’t go into the evidence, so I made a statement ‘mo Kwame Nkrumah’, and I subsequently had to go to Nkroful and speak to the Chiefs there and explain the context in which the statement was made,” he said.
Dr Opoku Prempeh, popularly known as NAPO, argued that political communication is often vulnerable to distortion, misinterpretation, or selective quotation. He emphasised that leaders must take responsibility when their words create confusion or unintended controversy.
“Because in politics, if somebody misunderstands, misquotes, or you allow your communication to be misread or to be misunderstood, you have to own it. So I owned it, and that is why I issued the statement,” he explained.
To further illustrate his point, NAPO likened the remark to football banter, stressing that it was not meant as an insult to the legacy of Kwame Nkrumah.
“Not that the context was wrong. I’m a die-hard fan of Kumasi Asante Kotoko. So if I’m teasing Olympic supporters and I said ‘mo Oly fuo no’, I’m not really insulting Olympic fans. I’m just upping Kotoko fuo because I am one of them,” he said.
He maintained that the reference to Kwame Nkrumah had been “totally misunderstood” and that his words had been framed in a manner that distorted the original political point he was making.
The NPP running mate acknowledged the strong public reaction that followed his statement. “It generated a lot of uproar. Nkrumahists got furious, and I apologise to them,” he stated.
NAPO then urged critics to take a closer look at Nkrumah’s own writings to better understand the nature of political rhetoric. “They should go and read Kwame Nkrumah’s Last Days from Guinea and look at how he described his own Convention People’s Party (CPP). He said the CPP was dead. That’s Nkrumah’s own writing, so we don’t say these things out of lack of respect. You know me. I have friends everywhere,” he added.
The controversy dates back to July 2024, when NAPO was officially unveiled as the New Patriotic Party’s running mate. During his speech, he declared that no Ghanaian president — including Kwame Nkrumah — had performed better than President Akufo-Addo. The remark triggered intense criticism, particularly from members of the Convention People’s Party, who described the statement as disrespectful and dismissive of Nkrumah’s contributions to Ghana’s independence and development.
The episode added fuel to what many critics have often described as NAPO’s “arrogant” public posture. However, on PM Express, he insisted that the backlash was driven by misinterpretation rather than any malicious intention.
He reiterated that the comment was political rhetoric delivered in the heat of a campaign, not a personal attack on Ghana’s founding leader. “It was never meant to disrespect Nkrumah. It was political talk, and many things said in political moments can be misunderstood,” he explained.
Dr Opoku Prempeh’s latest explanation appears aimed at repairing relations with stakeholders who were offended by the remark, while clarifying the true context behind one of the most contentious statements of the 2024 election campaign.
