The 2012 Presidential Candidate of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Mr Hassan Ayariga, has stated that his inability to deliver on the promises he made to party members and parliamentary candidates was because he was stripped of his powers.
According to him, prior to the congress that elected him some people had ganged up and amended the constitution to ensure that the presidential candidate of the party was no longer the leader of the party, an authority that was given to the national chairman of the party.
He was addressing Ashanti Regional Executive and constituency leaders of the party in Kumasi as part of his ‘thank you’ tour of the region.
Chairman as Leader
Mr Ayariga said since the amendment, the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Ahmed Ramadan, had become the leader of the party, and it was, therefore, incumbent on him to solicit resources to cater for the party, but he and his executive failed to do that.
“I know that prior to my election as the presidential candidate, I promised to build party offices, provide vehicles to youth organisations, and provide bill boards and t-shirts. I could not do all these because I was not the leader of the party,” he added.
He explained that it was due to that and other reasons such as deliberate attempt to sabotage his campaign by some leading members of the party that he had to move his campaign from the PNC headquarters to a private office.
Family support campaign
Mr Ayariga said because he was abandoned by the party executive in executing his campaign, he had to rely on the support of a few party members and that of his immediate family, including his three-year-old baby, mother-in-law and others.
Not daunted by these shortfalls, he said, he was able to mobilise some funds to pay for the filing fees of the party’s parliamentary candidates, as well as the allowances of some of the polling agents.
PNC targeted 10 per cent
Mr Ayariga said the target of the party was to secure at least 10 per cent of the valid votes cast so that the party would be able to position itself as a strategic kingmaker in the 2012 elections where no party could have won the elections without the support of the PNC.
He explained that with such arrangements, the party would have been able to secure 10 per cent of all political appointments that the President would make and also provide the PNC a strong stake in the governance of the country.
I deserve commendation
According to him, he was the only presidential candidate who had marketed the PNC and cited an example such as how he was able to erect billboards with his pictures on them all over the country.
He said PNC became synonymous with Ayariga and that anytime “Ayaricough was mentioned, PNC was mentioned. Anytime PNC was mentioned people knew that it was Ayaricough” and added that “I deserve a compliment from you right now.”
In response, some of the people shouted “Ayarigate”, “Ayaricough” to the pleasure of the gathering.