Independent presidential hopeful, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen says he is unfazed by people who suggest his departure from the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) would make a pipedream of his presidential ambitions.
According to him, he is well-positioned and has enough political recognition to succeed where others have failed.
Alan Kyerematen quit the NPP after alleging the party has been hijacked by a select few and is deviating from its democratic credentials.
Announcing his independent candidacy, he stated that he envisions a united government where the system of winner-take-all is eschewed and leaders are selected based on merit instead of affiliation.
He acknowledged that while many before him have failed to break the NPP-NDC duopoly, he intends to achieve that to usher in a better development paradigm leveraging his political clout.
“I have a lot of respect for these gentlemen; they’re all my very good friends, my very close friends. I cannot speak for them, I can speak for myself. I think that there are things that make my case different first because I’ve been a dominant figure in NPP politics for many years.
“It’s not just because I am a founding member of the party. I was chairman of the young executives’ forum which was one of the most vibrant groups within NPP. So I have a track record of performance of service to the party and to government.
“But beyond that, you know I’ve been in this game for some time, I’ve contested our current president three times so I have recognition in the rank and file of the party. I’m not a rookie in politics in the NPP. I think that I enjoy massive support particularly at the grassroots level,” he said.
Mr. Kyerematen placed third in the recent NPP super delegates’ conference being part of processes to elect a presidential candidate.
According to him, the super delegates were a minute fraction of the entire NPP family, and he has better chances going directly to the NPP broad base instead of through the delegates system.
“Look, super delegates primaries, that doesn’t determine your real strength within the family of NPP. Why do I say so? Averagely about 6.5 million people in any given election will vote for NPP. Now even if you go beyond the super delegates and you go to the general primaries, it’s only 210,000 people who vote.
“Now you’re talking about not a membership base but a sympathiser base of over 6.5 million NPP sympathisers. So it doesn’t matter what the delegates normally would think, the key is how popular is Alan amongst this broader NPP family.
“I have a very strong positioning within that community. And so when I hear people say ‘Oh Alan can go, it will not matter’, my simple answer is to wait and see. Let’s get to the field, and let’s wait and see. The contest will finally be determined when we have the general election,” he said.
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