The New Patriotic Party (NPP) will declare its next course of action today, following the resignation of one of its key members, Alan Kyerematen.
Mr Kyerematen resigned from the party on Monday, September 25, 2023, and declared his desire to run as an Independent Presidential Candidate in Accra in the 2024 elections.
As a result, the NPP stated in a statement issued by its General Secretary, Justin Kodua Frimpong, that it will address all of Mr Kyerematen’s concerns and declare a course of action.
“The leadership of the NPP has taken notice of the unfortunate decision of Mr Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, a long-standing member of the party to forfeit his membership and contest as an independent presidential candidate in the 2024 general elections.”
“The party leadership is by this medium urging the rank and file of our great party to keep calm and await an official address by the party to Mr Kyerematen’s resignation at 14:00 pm on Tuesday, September 26, 2023, at the party headquarters,” stated Mr Frimpong.
Meanwhile, in an address to the country on Monday, Mr Kyerematen stated the following reasons for his decision to leave the NPP.
Mr. Kyerematen said he had been subjected to unjust treatment by the NPP for about 15 years.
“In 2007, I joined a distinguished group of seventeen (17) Presidential aspirants to contest in the presidential primaries of NPP. In that election, under very strange circumstances, the electoral process was truncated on the day of the election, on account of accusations levelled against me, of influencing the course of the elections. This strategy was designed to create disfavour against me, in an attempt to diminish my popularity and the massive support I enjoyed amongst the grassroots activists of the Party.”
Despite the tragic plan against him, he stated that he backed then-candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to avoid a run-off election.
Mr. Kyerematen also expressed worry about the animosity and brutality directed at him and his followers, despite his many sacrifices for the party.
He said that severe post-primary assaults were launched against him and his supporters and that despite complaining to the party’s leadership and being guaranteed that his complaints would be addressed, little to no action was taken to halt such attacks.
“Despite the sacrifice that I made to unite the Party as referred to above, there were very serious post-primary attacks on my supporters all over the country and an open show of hostility. Some of my supporters were victims of brutalities and continue to bear the scars of that treatment. I made several representations to the then leadership of the Party, drawing their attention to the rancorous and divisive behaviour of some elements in the Party.
“Unfortunately, however, all the promises made by the Party leadership were never fulfilled, and indeed the divisive and hostile attacks on my person and my supporters remained for several years thereafter, and have continued to date.”
Mr. Kyerematen also voiced dissatisfaction with the NPP’s National Council’s treatment of problems he made during the party’s super delegates meeting in August 2023.
He said that the super delegates’ conference was intentionally and tactically slanted in favour of one specific contender, and he expected the Council to redress such injustice, but they remained aloof and looked on.
“In the run-up to the Super Delegates Conference, the National Council of the Party made some of the most controversial and contentious decisions in the history of the Party. They rejected a petition signed by nine out of the ten aspirants, requesting for the Super Delegates Conference to be held in one location, as well as allowing each Delegate to the Conference to nominate five persons, instead of one, in line with the provisions in the Party’s Constitution.
“To make matters worse, it was absolutely clear as indicated in my Press Statement of September 6th this year that, the Super Delegates Conference was strategically and tactically skewed in favour of one particular aspirant. The level of intimidation and monetization that characterized the Conference is unprecedented in the history of internal elections of our Party.”
Mr. Kyerematen bemoaned that the New Patriotic Party had undergone an ill transition in recent years and had been hijacked by some handpicked party officials, of which he is no longer a member.
“I have devoted the majority of my professional career to serving the Party, and I continue to believe in the vision of the Party’s founding fathers. However, the NPP as it presently exists bears little similarity to the Party I helped to create in 1992. A limited handful of Party leaders and elders, government appointments, “behind-the-curtain power brokers,” and some unscrupulous Party apparatchiks have hijacked the Party,” he explained.
He also raised concern about the alarmingly high rates of young unemployment. He stated that his resignation and plan to run as an independent candidate in the 2024 elections are to assist him in trying to offer his quota to improve and address such a sad issue.
“It is also worth noting that every year over 300,000 (three hundred thousand) graduates from tertiary institutions in Ghana, excluding those from secondary institutions, enter the job market with little or no hope of finding a job. Clearly, public sector employment is not an option, with an already over-bloated public service. This phenomenon of pervasive employment crisis is gradually becoming a national security threat, as evidenced by the recent “Occupy Julorbi House” demonstrations. The initial reaction of the Police in manhandling some protestors is not the solution to the problem. What Ghana needs now is CHANGE, which will provide long-lasting solutions to the challenges confronting our country.”
