Former General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Ohene Ntow has revealed that there is intense pressure on Alan Kyerematen not to contest the party’s primaries.
According to him some bigwigs within the party are championing a crusade for Akufo-Addo to be presented for a third time without any opposition.
‘’There have been a lot of calls for Alan not to run in this particular primaries and also suggestions from very well placed party officials and personalities that Nana Akufo-Addo should go unopposed….,’’ he said such calls are alien to the party.
Mr Ohene-Ntow who was responding to comments made by spokesperson for Nana Addo, Mustapha Hamid saying Mr. Alan Kyerematen should try standing as an independent candidate for the presidency if he believes he is popular to enough to win the 2016 elections.
‘’People who are saying they are popular in the whole country, amongst the population but are not popular within the NPP. No doubt it’s the population that they need to be president and therefore they don’t need the NPP machine; in that sense let Alan Kyerematen maybe try and run as an independent candidate, because the constitution allows him to run. He doesn’t necessarily have to run on a ticket,’’ Mustapha Hamid suggested. [see – Alan has a tall mountain to climb to be flagbearer – Mustapha Hamid]
But speaking on Eyewitness News on Wednesday, Nana Ohene-Ntow, who is a friend to Alan Kyerematen, said it does not make sense to suggest that Nana Akufo-Addo should be returned unopposed by the NPP for the 2016 general elections.
‘’… elections and competitions are part of the party’s culture; we have elections to select even polling station executives.’’ [Nana Ohene said there are elections at all levels of the party’s structure]
‘’If someone [Alan] suggested that I am interested in taking part in an election and the counter-suggestion is that ‘leave the party’, that becomes a very difficult proposition,’’ Ohene Ntow said.
He stated that such comments do not auger well for the unity of the party. ‘’If we need to deal with party unite and key party spokespersons, such as Hamid start suggesting that some people must leave the party to pursue their political ambition, then that undermines that effort for the party to be united.’’
Nana Ohene Ntow said Mr. Kyerematen has not shown desperation to be becoming the flagbearer of the party apart from showing interest in the normal and the culture of democracy which exist in the NPP.
He reiterated that the suggestions that Alan Kyerematen should not contest the primaries are ‘’out of place’’ and divisive.
Click to listen to the interview
By: Evans Effah/citifmonline.com/Ghana