The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Fifi Fiavi Kwetey says Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen should have been bold enough to exit the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) much earlier than he did.
According to him, Mr. Kyerematen, who has since parted ways with the party and now leads the Movement for Change, lingered too long amid the NPP’s mismanagement of the economy, resulting in the current economic turmoil facing the nation.
Speaking in an exclusive interview on JoyNews on Thursday, November 23, Mr. Kwetey stated, “I suspect that possibly one of the things that maybe went against Alan is the fact that he stayed too long in a sinking ship.
“If he had been smart enough to get out of that ship very early, he obviously could have distanced himself from the mess that we have today. But having stayed that long, it made it difficult for him to show that he is not part of the mess that we see today,” the NDC General Secretary asserted.
Mr. Kwetey’s comments follow the former Trade and Industry Minister’s resignation from the NPP ahead of the party’s November 4 presidential elections.
Mr. Kyerematen cited a skewed election process in favour of Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia during the party’s Super Delegates Conference. Subsequently, he declared his intention to run as an Independent Presidential aspirant, leading the Movement for Change.
On November 4 during the NPP’s presidential primaries, Dr Bawumia was elected as flagbearer for the 2024 general elections.
And Mr. Kwetey thinks the NPP opted for Dr. Bawumia because President Akufo-Addo envisioned him as an “economic wizard.”
“When they came into office on the back of the solid foundation they inherited, they started off well, but in 2019, things began to unravel. They made it look like it was because of Covid, but when you check, even in 2019, you could see the depreciation of the cedi, and the budget deficit had already soared,” Mr. Kwetey emphasised.
In light of these challenges faced by the party, Mr Kwetey maintained that the NDC anticipated the election of Dr. Bawumia as the NPP flagbearer, emphasising that they in the NDC had been prepared for any candidate that may emerge as the flagbearer for the NPP.