President Nana Akufo-Addo has told his governing New Patriotic Party leaders and members that they must not break the COVID-19 safety protocols again as they did during the party’s parliamentary primaries on Saturday, 20 June 2020.

In his acceptance speech at the party’s ceremony to acclaim him as the presidential candidate for 2020 on Saturday, 27 June 2020, Mr Akufo-Addo said: “My dear friends and colleagues, this past weekend, our party came to the end of the processes that we have to go through to prepare for the elections in December with the primaries in constituencies, where we have sitting MPs”.

“Unfortunately, in our enthusiasm and sheer unbridled joy, we broke some of the COVID-19 safety protocols. It should not happen again”, he warned.

“I congratulate all those who came out winners, and have got the opportunity to represent our party at the elections in December. As always happens during elections, there were losers. Many of these people are important personalities in our party, and are playing critical roles in Parliament, as are all the others”.

“But those of us in politics know that these things happen, we know that to use the famous words of our one-time General Secretary, we have to continue to fear delegates, but we remain firm in our belief that losing one election cannot and does not mean the end of your political life. I am a living example”, the President encouraged.

“I urge all of us to get over our disappointments quickly, and unite to go before the country. This was the message I gave to the forty-two (42) MPs who lost when I invited them to meet with me at Jubilee House on Thursday. I believe that the message went down well, especially if we recollect the impressive words several of them uttered after their defeat”.