A deputy spokesperson for the Alan Kyerematen campaign team, has suggested that the team is not counting on the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament (MP) in the ex-Trade Minister’s bid to lead the ruling party in next year’s Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
This, according to Richard Nyamah, is because all those openly flouting party rules to support the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, will lose their seats in the upcoming parliamentary primaries.
The Vice President in a meeting with members of the Majority Caucus in Parliament last Tuesday, disclosed his intention to contest the NPP Presidential Primaries on November 4, 2023.
“For the MPs who are out there flouting the rules, trust me the delegates are watching, your own seats are under threat, and trust me at the end of this process, the majority of them will be replaced,” Mr Nyamah said on the Big Issue on Citi TV on Saturday.
Alan Kyerematen, has since 2007 come second in all NPP flagbearer contest and each time had his numbers dropping significantly, particularly against Nana Akufo-Addo and many are expecting that his team would be seen courting the support of all and sundry in the party, but this is not the case.
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Mr Nyamah, described the private meeting of the Vice President and the NPP MPs in Accra as “media gimmicks” meant to deceive and coerce NPP delegates that Dr Bawumia is the favourite among NPP MPs.
Mr Nyamah’s revelation comes as the MP for the Yendi Constituency, Umar Farouk Aliu Mahama last week, disclosed that a lot of the MPs on the NPP Majority side of the House are rooting for Dr Bawumia to become the next flagbearer of the party.
Mr Mahama, said Dr Bawumia stands tall among the persons that have so far put themselves up for the NPP’s flagbearership slot.
The Yendi MP, who is the Chairman of Parliament’s Muslim Caucus, had argued on Eyewitness News on Citi FM, that although the other aspirants are equally qualified, the Vice President is the right person to take the country to the Promised Land considering his time working with President Nana Akufo-Addo.
“As for me and the majority of the Majority MPs, we are rooting for the Vice President, and it is a fact, and we are bold enough to say that we want Mahamudu Bawumia to take us to the Promised Land and also unite the party after the elections.
“Although we are yet to meet the other presidential hopefuls, it was clear during our meeting with the Vice President that everybody in the room wants Dr. Bawumia, and we are not saying that everyone wants him, but at least, over 100 MPs want him.”
Mr Mahama, further indicated that he is optimistic “that Bawumia will win [the presidential primaries] with over 80 percent of the votes.”
Mr Nyamah, however, added that the Alan Kyerematen campaign team is unperturbed by the seeming support of some MPs and party leadership for the Vice President.
According to him, the Alan campaign team, is very focused and directly selling their message to the polling station and constituency executives for their candidate to emerge victorious in the presidential primaries.
The NPP has set November 4, 2023, for its presidential primaries to select a flagbearer for the general elections in 2024.
However, if more than five candidates file to run in the primaries, the party will call a Special Congress on August 26.
The nomination period for the presidential primaries will begin on May 26 and end on June 24, 2023.
So far, the former Food and Agriculture Minister, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Assin Central MP, Kennedy Agyapong, and Francis Addai Nimo, have declared their intention to contest in the party’s flagbearership race.
The others, include former MP for Essikado-Ketan, Joe Ghartey, former General Secretary of the NPP, Kwabena Agyapong, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, and former Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko.
Dr Bawumia, has not publicly declared his intention to contest for the flagbearership slot, but has confirmed his presidential ambition to a group of NPP MPs, while privately meeting other bigwigs of the party.
