Ex-Veep Deserted!

…Amoako Tuffuor, Yaw Buaben shift camp

Alhaji Aliu Mahama, former Vice President As the campaign for the flagbearership position of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) gathers momentum, the presidential ambitions of the former Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama seem to have been hit by desertions of some of his able lieutenants in the 2008 New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearership contest. Mr. Yaw Buaben Asamoah, a former Special Aide to the ex Vice President, who was also very instrumental in the 2008 campaign and defended Alhaji Mahama for so many years, has dumped his boss and joined Mr. Alan Kyerematen’s campaign team as the official spokesperson.

Another big ‘fish’, Dr. Amoako Tuffuor, the former Coordinator of the School Feeding Programme, who enthusiastically supported the failed bid by the former Vice President to take over from former President John Kufuor as the next President of Ghana, has also joined the camp of Nana Akufo-Addo.

Mr. Yaw Buaben Asamoah, who lost his bid to become the General Secretary of the party during the recent National Conference held in Kumasi told The Chronicle in an interview yesterday that though Mr. Aliu Mahama was a good candidate whilst the NPP was in power, the tables have now turned and that the party currently needed a person who can best appeal to Ghanaians. “Mr. Kyerematen perfectly fits into this position”, he said.

According to Buaben Asamoah, the party in its present position needs someone who can alleviate the youth from their current state of unemployment. To him, a change in the political terrain is decisive, and the search for an economic manager who has the track record for delivering jobs and incomes for the people is what Ghanaians need.

And Alan Kyeremanten has the track record of job delivery and income for young people.

“That is why I am now proud to be part of the team to help him become the President of Ghana. In NPP, we believe in competition because when there is competition, it does augur well for the party.

He debunked allegations that the President’s Special Initiative (PSI) that the aspiring flagbearer boasts of has failed, explaining that Ghanaians complain that we have a rigid economy, in the sense that we are locked in the situation of not adding value to raw materials.

He said the PSI, which was conceptualized, developed and pushed by Alan Kyerematen was simply an attempt to expand the economy of Ghana towards value addition by linking agriculture to industry.

The Alan Kyerematen campaign spokesperson said he now exercise the privilege of working with somebody who he believes is the only person since independence to have delivered a conceptual framework for creating employment and jobs in this country through the PSI.

He mentioned that the problem with the PSI had to do with management and capitalization, which should have been done in a way that would have been sustainable.

On rumours that the congress date has been changed to give room for Mr. Kyerematen’s eligibility for the position to be tested, Mr. Asamoah said it would be ridiculous for any individual to embark on such a frivolous imagination.