Former Tamale Central Member of Parliament, Inusah Fuseini says he is not surprised with former Trades Minister Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen withdrawing from the race to lead the governing NPP into the election 2024.
The private legal practitioner told the host of Joy News’ Newsfile, Samson Lardy Anyenini that the former Minister’s complaint made President Akufo-Addo come out to clarify that he is not supporting any of the presidential aspirants.
“He went in complaining that this appears to him to be an establishment candidate [Bawumia] and almost everybody was being whipped into line…being an establishment candidate once, he knows when he sees one, ” he said.
According to Mr Fuseini, this has made him leave the NPP disappointed because even when the President issued a disclaimer regarding the Vice President, who eventually led a pack of nine aspirants, “Alan did not believe him”.
He said considering words like “unprecedented, despicable and unquestionable” being used by Mr Kyerematen in his statement prior to leaving the race, it tells a lot about how pained he is regarding what happened.
“These are words of strong condemnation,” Mr Fuseini said.
Alan’s pained, disappointment and withdrawal
Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen withdrew from the party’s flagbearer race where he classified several incidents as favouring one particular aspirant during the elections.
The former Minister, who left a similar race in 2008 in favour of now-President Akufo-Addo, believes such incidents were strategically skewed to favour one candidate.
Mr Kyerematen who placed third after Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and Kennedy Agyapong also highlighted the level of intimidation directed at delegates across the sixteen regions during the election.
On the back of this, Mr. Fuseini noted that the former Trade Minister had anticipated a challenging fight for the NPP flagbearer position from the start.
He noted that, the NPP’s Super Delegates Conference was more of a selection contest than a true election, claiming that the NPP altered its election rules during the election.
The former Roads and Highways Minister expressed belief in the claims made by Mr Kyerematen, emphasising that the NPP had a comprehensive plan to humiliate and prevent him from coming close to Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
“You should understand that the project to humiliate Alan is so encompassing. They (NPP) didn’t want him (Alan Kyerematen) to come any close to Bawumia. They thought that their project to elect a flagbearer must end with the Super Delegates Conference.
“They were aiming over 70% for Bawumia so that they could make a case for Bawumia to go into the elections without a delegate’s congress,” Mr Fuseini stated.