Like Akufo-Addo, Kufour abandoned Alan Cash

Before former President Kufour exited office in 2009, the NPP fraternity, including external observers, believed that Kufour’s favourite Presidential candidate was his former Trade and Industry minister, Alan Kojo Kyerematen (aka Alan Cash), over the current President, Nana Akufo-Addo.

In a leaked tape of Kufour admonishing the NPP delegates, he intimated that the NPP needed someone who was calm (presumably Alan Cash) and not a Presidential candidate full of tension, indirectly pointing fingers at the current President Akufo-Addo in favour of Alan. Despite this, due to rumours of seniority debates and internal NPP manoeuvres, Akufo-Addo won the three NPP Presidential races after Kufour's tenure.

However, after losing the national elections twice to former President Mahama of the NDC, Akufo-Addo was third time lucky to become President. Alan was made Trade and Industry minister again and appeared loyal to Akufo-Addo until the NPP decided to elect their next Presidential candidate after Akufo-Addo.

According to the unspoken tradition of the NPP as an ‘Akan Party’, Alan Cash was tipped to succeed Nana Akufo-Addo since he stood taller than other Presidential candidates, including the current Vice President, Dr. Bawumia, for contesting Akufo-Addo and taking second place.

Following Alan Cash’s resignation as Trade and Industry minister to contest for the Flagbearer of the NPP for the 2024 general elections, it became clear that the sitting President Akufo-Addo abandoned Alan Cash and rooted for Dr. Bawumia, who won the Flagbearer race convincingly on November 4, 2023.

Alan’s defeat to the established Presidential Candidate, Dr. Bawumia, led to his resignation from the NPP to contest in the 2024 general elections as an Independent Presidential Candidate with his ‘Butterfly Movement’.

Before making this serious political decision to go, Independent, Alan Cash enumerated several underhand dealings to favour Dr. Bawumia. It was strongly believed that Alan Cash suffered apparent abandonment from President Akufo-Addo due to belonging to the ‘Kufour faction’. Alan was visibly pained by this betrayal from President Akufo-Addo for favouring the Vice President.

During the NPP Presidential campaigns, former President Kufour was not publicly heard on Alan's concerns, coupled with countless corruption scandals and economic mismanagement by his own NPP government.

It was least expected that the visibly quiet former President Kufour would endorse Dr. Bawumia rather than Alan Cash, who had long been perceived to be in his faction.

The strong response of embittered Alan Cash regarding his disappointment and shock over Kufour’s endorsement of Dr. Bawumia was understandable. It was not only Alan Cash who was highly disappointed by Kufour’s endorsement of Bawumia but also his followers and many well-meaning Ghanaians, considering the glaring failures of the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia-led regime.

Both Kufour and Akufo-Addo have abandoned Alan in the middle of his Presidential ambition, causing an emotional whirl of reactions from him in the public space. There are indeed interesting times ahead in the NPP as Ghana inches closer to the crucial December 7 general elections.

It is obviously too late for Alan Cash to absolve himself from the NPP’s mess that he and this current regime have caused. No matter how painful it is for Alan Cash regarding Kufour’s endorsement of Bawumia over him, the question remains: who caused it?

The Presidential ambition of Dr. Bawumia will also not see the light of day because the majority of Ghanaians will reject him and massively vote for the more experienced and visionary former President Mahama in the upcoming general elections to clean up the mess created by the current Akufo-Addo-Bawumia-led regime.