If you support the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) and approve of Mr. Williams Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo as its leader, then you need to get ready, for a new leader is on his way.
Our sources have it that the emerging NPP leader is no other than Mr. John Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, aka Alan Cash.
Readers would recall that Alan Kyerematen was the choice of former President John Agyekum Kufuor in 2008 to lead the NPP.
Now, after Nana Akufo-Addo had suffered two humiliating electoral defeats, the Kufuor-led Ashanti bloc in the party have decided it is time Nana Akufo-Addo is removed as flagbearer.
However, a leading member of the group, in an exclusive interview with this paper (name withheld for now) justified recent publication by Pan-African Magazine, Africawatch in which Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen has been highly tipped as Akufo-Addo’s successor.
According to him, Nana Akufo-Addo failed woefully to utilize the opportunity that was handed him by the rank and file of the party, leading to his two consecutive defeats.
“Those of us in the Kufuor camp will do everything to ensure that Alan Cash become the next leader of the NPP whether Akufo-Addo and his group like it or not,” the source bluntly stated.
Below are excerpts from the June edition of the Africawatch magazine of which Alan Kyerematen was highly tipped to lead the NPP in 2016.
Reversal OF Fortune
If Akufo-Addo’s petition is not successful, will he find himself on the outside looking in when the NPP chooses a presidential candidate for the 2016 election? He has name recognition and a strong organizational network in the party, which makes him a formidable candidate, but there is the issue of his age.
Akufo-Addo will be 72 years old in 2016, a bit older than Ghana’s typical successful residential candidates. At this point, however, it is hard to imagine him making his 2016 intentions clear until after his Supreme Court case has concluded.
Just six years ago, Akufo-Addo’s political future looked much more hopeful. He resigned from the Kufuor government in July 2007 to seek the 2008 presidential nomination of the NPP. Competing against 16 others, he won and became the party’s presidential candidate.
But although Akufo-Addo received more votes than John Atta Mills in the first round of the 2008 presidential race, he lost to Mills in the run-off.(Mills was sworn in as president in January 2009, then served until his sudden death on July 24, 2012. Vice President Mahama immediately succeeded Mills, in accordance with Ghana’s Constitution.)
Many agree that Akufo-Addo’s narrow defeat in 2008 inspired both his second attempt at the presidency in 2012 and his current bid to have the Supreme Court over-turn his defeat in that election. Now, in the wake of the 2012 elections, some Ghanaians both inside and outside the NPP-say it is time for Akufo- Addo to step aside and allow a new leader to step forward.
After all, they say, Akufo-Addo has twice tried and failed to win the presidency. Kyerematen and his supporters, to their credit, have been coy about whether he has intentions of seeking the NPP presidential nomination for 2016.
Now 57 years old, Kyerematen is a founding member of the NPP and has held numerous important positions in government and private business. Popularly known as “Alan Cash” Kyeremanten previously sought the NPP’s presidential nomination in the 2007 primary, capturing 32.3 per cent of the vote, compared with Akufo-Addo’s 47.96 percent.
Kyerematen made a second attempt at the party’s leadership in 2010, again placing second to Akufo-Addo. But despite the two setbacks, political analysts say Kyerematen has broader national (as opposed to party) appeal than Akufo-Addo. That presents a dilemma for the NPP.
What to do with two leading candidates-one of whom, Akufo-Addo, is popular within the party, but not in the nation as a whole, and the other, Kyerematen, who is more popular nationwide, but less so within the party.
A rational calculation would tip the scales in Kyerematen’s favor, as the ultimate goal of the party is to win the presidency. But politics, especially at the NPP primaries level, hardly follows the path of rationality.
That notwithstanding, Kyerematen is still likely to be “the next man”. He is an experienced campaigner and relatively well liked by many Ghanaians – especially women and the youth, the largest voting groups in the country.
He also has broad experience at many levels of government, serving as Ghana’s ambassador to the United States and a former minister of trade, industry and presidential special initiatives. More recently, he has headed the African Trade Policy Center.
Kyerematen clearly has the star power to be considered as the frontrunner. But if he were to run against Akufo-Addo, old wounds could open between their camps.
Alan Kyerematen: The NPP’s Next Man?
Alan Kyerematen, twice beaten by Nana Akufo-Addo for the presidential nomination of Ghana’s main opposition New Patriotic Party, suddenly sees his chances of running for president in 2016 becoming brighter as Akufo-Addo’s star dims.
As the country’s Supreme Court continues to hear Akufo-Addo’s petition seeking to overturn the presidential election, there are indications that NPP members are looking beyond him for a savoir who can lead the party to victory again.
That savoir is increasingly taking on the form of Alan Kyerematen. A tumultuous time awaits Ghana’s opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the next few months as it realigns itself in a political landscape that might eventually have no place for Nana Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the party’s losing 2008 and 2012 presidential candidate.
Right now, the NPP still finds its fate tied to Akufo- Addo as he tries his luck at the Supreme Court to capture the presidency that he lost on the electoral battlefield last December. But luck has eluded Akufo-Addo at every turn in his pursuit of the nation’s highest office. So it is no surprise that many Ghanaians doubt he will succeed this time.
Many say that Akufo-Addo’s continuing struggles are creating an opportunity for Alan Kyerematen, the man twice beaten by Akufo-Addo on his way to the NPP nomination. Some NPP members already say that Kyerematen could write the next chapter of the party’s story –a new chapter devoid of bitterness, anger, intolerance, and unnecessary aggression as the party tries to wrest control of the country’s government from President John Mahama and the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).
With Ghana’s political landscape now highly polarized, analysts say that the “kinder, gentler” Kyerematen could help reduce tensions in the country while also raising the NPP’s appeal to a national electorate that has grown weary of confrontational politics.
Until recently, it was hoped that Kyerematen would become the first African to serve as director-general of the World Trade Organization. But although he received the endorsement of the African Union for that position, he did not make the list of finalists that the WTO announced April 12.
Many NPP members are now hoping that Kyerematen will turn his ambition toward Ghana’s 2016 election-especially if Akufo-Addo’s petition to the Supreme Court fails. Will Kyerematen rise to the occasion? A betting man would put his money on him to do just that.
More At Stake
Observers say Akufo-Addo’s petition is not just about the result of the 2012 presidential election, but also about his political future. Akufo-Addo and two NPP allies –running mate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and party chairman Jake Obestebi-Lamptey –filed the petition shortly after the Dec.7-8 voting in the hope of overturning the Electoral Commission’s declaration giving incumbent Mahama victory over Akufo-Addo.
The court started hearing the petition on April 17, and the case is still underway. But observers say the petitioners’ case is too weak. Making matters worse for them, star witness Bawumia recently told the court that no fraud was perpetrated by the president, the NDC or the Electoral Commission- contrary to the petitioners’ previous public claims.
Bawumia instead told the court that the petitioners were merely contesting discrepancies and errors that factored into the EC’s declaration of Mahama’s victory. The petitioners are asking the court to annul about four million votes cast during the election at more than 11,000 polling stations where they claim anomalies occurred obviously the petitioners face a very difficult task in proving that the anomalies constitute statutory violations, irregularities, omissions and malpractices and that they affected the final result.
And now, weeks into the case, some members of the NPP are frustrated and disappointed that the petitioners’ arguments do not seem to be gaining traction. As a result, the NPP’s membership is divided on the case, with a salient majority believing the party should not pin its hopes and fortunes on a court victory.
Part of the problem, they say, is that the NPP is not ready to acknowledge its current weaknesses-as perhaps evidenced by Akufo-Addo’s focus on still trying to win the December elections rather than on rebuilding the party for the future.
This stringent stand by Akufo-Addo keeps the party in limbo, they argue, and only delays what many say is a much–needed post-election re-organization of the party. The NPP needs to get its act together soon, observers say. Otherwise, it could find that voters will increasingly regard the party as sore losers.
