The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has asserted that the alliance between the Movement for Change (M4C) and the National Interest Movement (NIM) will make no difference in their electoral fortunes in the December 2024 elections.
According to the Deputy General Secretary of the party, Haruna Mohammed, both parties individually would have polled some votes; therefore, coming together to create an alliance makes no difference.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Top Story on April 5, he said “Come to think about it, these parties that are coming together would have contested in the elections anyway. They would have contested in their own strength and they would have garnered the same votes as they were going to get.
“It is just like if you have 2+2+2 that is 6, if you decide to separate all the two to stand alone it doesn’t change the numbers. If they come together, it is going to still give them the numbers that they would have gotten in the larger political discourse in terms of the contest.”
His comments follow a release dated April 4, in which leaders of M4C and NIM, Alan Kyerematen and Dr Abu Sakara Foster respectively, announced the successful conclusion of discussions with various political entities to form the Alliance for Revolutionary Change (ARC).
The alliance aims to challenge the long-standing dominance of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the NPP.
Nevertheless, Haruna said that although the NPP was not concerned about the possible effect this alliance might have on their numbers, it would work hard to pull these supporters to their side and ensure that they capture political power come 2024.
“Notwithstanding that, we are not going to leave any stone unturned in terms of having engagement and making sure that we are able to get some of the smaller political parties to our side,” he said.
On the same show, the Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, Mustapha Gbande, said that the new alliance only encourages and improves the country’s democracy.
He argued that it proves that most Ghanaians think it was a mistake voting Akufo-Addo into office, and it was high time that the party was driven out.
Mr Gbande insisted that Mr Kyerematen breaking out from the NPP meant that his sympathisers would also decide to vote him into office, thereby affecting the votes of the party.
“For us, because the majority shareholder of this alliance comes from the NPP, we think that it is going to play for us on the field. Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen was a senior member of the NPP until recently. He was a Minister of Trade and close to becoming leader of the NPP.
“He left because of treatment of unfairness, treatment of injustice metered to him by President Akufo-Addo and his appointees, and so we believe that because he is the majority shareholder of this alliance and he is opposed to his own mother political party, it is the NPP that will suffer in the end,” he added.
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