Nana Snubs Alan Cash & Agyapong

The appointment of a returnee Campaign Manager, Communication Team, a nationwide tour and the discreet launch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) 2012 electioneering campaign give credence to reports that the internal wrangling within the opposition party which has largely gone unreported, is far from over.

The cracks in the party seem to be deepening further. Already, the Northern Region branch of the party is accusing the former Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, of undermining Nana Addo’s campaign in the region.

A cursory scrutiny by The Herald at events within the NPP reveal that some key personalities linked to the affable Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen are once again being ostracized in the run-up to the 2012 presidential elections as happened in 2008.

Nana Akufo Addo last week released the list of his 2012 Campaign Communication team, and appointed Nana Akomea as its director, but evidently missing is ex-Presidential Press Secretary, Mr. Kwabena Agyei Agyapong, alias “Kala”.

The sports presenter extraordinaire turned politician, used his father’s murder to give President Jerry John Rawlings hell, both in and out of office, and won the admiration of his party men.

But is said to have fallen out of favour with Nana for saying that Nana is too old and needs to give way to a more lively and energetic person to lead the NPP.

Whilst Mr. Agyepong is not part of the communication team, Mr. Alan Kyremanteng whom he described as “full of energy and youthful”, compared to Nana Addo, is also missing from the entourage of the NPP big wigs traveling with Nana Addo on his nationwide tour ahead of the Parliamentary Primaries in April.

Also missing from the communication team is another solid communication expert Mr. Andy Awuni, also ex-Presidential Press Secretary who had for many years practiced as a journalist at the Ghana News Agency (GNA).

Arthur Kennedy, the former Communication Director who was massively bashed for revealing top party secrets in his book, “Chasing the Elephant into the Bush: The Politics of Complacency” in which he praised Alan Kyerematen, is also not amongst the communication team.

Political pundits have argued that their mere presence could have given the NPP a holistic front and greatly enhanced its chances.

The affable Alan Kyeremateng has lots of appeal amongst female voters because of his good looks.

Furthermore, he would have worked on the psychology of groups linked to him to prevent a clash with the pro-Nana Addo groups especially so when the NPP flag bearer is asking regional and constituency executives not to be cajoled by parliamentary aspirants who use his name.

What is interesting is that lesser known names or political novices like John Boadu, Curtis Perry Kwabla Okudzeto, Ursula Owusu, Mustapha Hamid, Herbert Krapa, Yaw Buaben Asamoah, Samuel Jinakpo, Sammy Awuku of AFAG and Olivia Quartey are part of the communication team. They are nowhere near Agyepong who has total control of the English language.

Also on the team are ex-General Secretary Nana Ohene Ntow, Stephen Asamoah Boateng, Frank Agyekum, Frances Essiam, John Kumah, Yaw Adomako Baafi, Titus Glover and Dominic Nitiwul, MP for Bimbila, who has flirted with the NDC, PNC but now resting with the NPP.

What makes the ex-Presidential Press Secretary’s case more intriguing is that Mr. Agyepong was a darling boy of Nana Addo in his botched 1998 flag-bearer race which saw ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor elected as NPP presidential candidate.

Mr. Agyapong, a trained KNUST Engineer and once an unalloyed loyalist of Nana Addo, in the run up to the NPP presidential primaries last year, broke the news of how he was hounded from the camp of the 2008 flag-bearer of the New Patriotic Party, and has no choice but to throw his weight behind Mr. Alan Kyerematen.

He made the revelation during a discussion on Metro TV’s Good Evening Programme when he was provoked by a text message sent by Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, a supporter of Nana Akufo-Addo.

Mr. Agyapong had always explained that his support for Alan Kyerematen has been the issue of generational leadership in which relatively old leaders must give way to young and energetic ones.

But it appears there is more to his support for Alan Kyerematen than mere generational leadership.

According to Kwabena Agyapong, he was “run down, disrespected and insulted” by people close to Nana-Addo.

And his crime was just to offer a hand of support to Nana-Addo after he lost a difficult election to Prof Mills in 2008.

“It was after trying very hard to get Nana Addo to build consensus and I was dismissed with a wave of a hand. I read that there were people who even attacked Nana for coming to visit me and discuss with me the way forward because they said who is Kwabena Agyapong,”? he revealed.

And even though he concedes that Nana Addo himself was not part of this campaign of insult and disrespect, “leadership is key,” he emphasized.

Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko had sent a text message into the programme, demanding to know why Kwabena Agyapong suddenly decided to support Alan Kyerematen when he Agyapong had in a meeting on January 4, 2009, pledged his unflinching support for Nana-Addo.

Kwabena Agyapong did not take kindly to Gabby’s intervention, saying that such messages will only provoke people into revealing the “can of worms” which have been hidden for long.

“I have supreme respect for Nana, and he will be my friend forever; I elected not to support him, and I explained to him and he respects that,” Agyapong stated.

But Boakye Agyarko, the campaign manager of Nana Akufo-Addo who was also on the show said Nana-Addo had long pledged his unflinching support to polling station executives in 1998 when he lost the presidential primaries to then candidate Kufour.

On the alleged insults on Kwabena Agyapong, Mr. Agyarko noted that Nana Addo has always shown respect for his colleagues, but said in a large organization, there are bound to be people who could disrespect others for diverse reasons