The Economic Intelligence Units in its 2023 country report of Ghana has posited that the contests to secure the presidential candidacies of both the New Patriotic Party NPP and the National Democratic Congress NDC, is going to be highly competitive.
The NPP has scheduled its presidential primaries for 4th November 2023. The major aspirants are Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen the former trade’s minister and Dr Mahamudu Bawumia DMB the vice president of Ghana.
In 2007, when the race for the flagbearership of the NPP was akin to a beauty contest, awashed with 17 contestants, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo (NADAA) emerged the victor not because he gained the necessary percentage to be leader but on the premise that Mr.Alan Kyerematen concedes defeat and allow NADAA to run.
It was believed that Alan was young and he should make way for the older NADAA to contest and when the time is ripe, he Alan will have his time as the flag bearer of the NPP in the near future. This is a decision in my opinion Alan is currently regretting.
On 22nd December 2007, an electoral college of 2,285 delegates assembled at the great hall of the University of Ghana. NADAA polled 1,096 votes representing 47.9% of the valid vote’s casted while Alan polled 738 votes representing 32.5% of the valid votes cast. In order to win one touch a candidate should be able to poll 1,154 votes.
Though NADAA fell short of the constitutionally mandated more than 50% of valid votes, Alan conceded defeat. NADAA was 63 years then while Alan was 52 years. This made NADAA more popular as a flag bearer as he went on to defeat Alan in the 2010 and 2014 presidential primaries of the NPP.
NADAA will go on to win the 2016 and 2020 elections. NADAA is not contesting anymore as his tenure of office gradually grinds to a halt. In 2024 Alan feels his time is due, but then again he has the running mate and vice president of NADAA to contend with. Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia DMB has eclipsed the earlier failings of his political career and has become a party stalwart who stands tall and also in the path of Alan’s presidential ambition.
The wind of change is blowing and for the first time in the NPP, it looks like they shall have a flag bearer from the Northern part of Ghana.
The search for regional balance of north/south has always informed the decision to look for a northerner as a vice president, especially in the NPP. Apart from the 1992 elections, the NPP has a tradition of presenting a northerner as a running mate. Aliu Mahama was the vice to John Agyekum Kufuor and Dr Mahamudu Bawumia (DMB) is also the vice to NADAA.
On 14th August 2008, NADAA in his bid to prove that he is a man who can make his decisions, at a meeting with the top echelons of the party at Alisa Hotel shocked party stalwarts with the choice of his running mate, the young deputy governor of the Bank of Ghana, DMB. He was not known in the party and even his father Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia had associated with a plethora of post-independence governments but his last association was with the NDC before his passing into blessed memory in September, 2002.
Under the fourth republic Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia was the chairman of the council of state under the presidency of JJ Rawlings from 1993 to 2000 and a stalwart of the NDC in the northern region. This means that DMB had his roots firmly in the NDC.
Narrations of Nana Ohene Ntow a former General Secretary of the NPP has revealed that as at the time DMB was selected as the running mate of NADAA, he was not a card bearing member of the NPP. It took the intervention of John Agyekum Kufuor for the waiver of the 5 years needed for a person to be a card bearing member before qualifying as a running mate or presidential candidate of the NPP. He revealed as the then GS of the party, he signed the membership card of DMB.
There is a loyalty and traditional challenge here, many of the people who support Alan are the true and true NPP party folks who believe in the principle that servitude should be rewarded. There is serious confusion in the elephant party, as party folks are torn between sticking with Alan who has loyally served the party or stick with DMB who is the current order and the remnants of the system of the NADAA administration when he exits office.
The role of DMB cannot be downplayed in the 2012 election petition. Some academics have referred to 2012 as the rebirth of Bawumia in the annals of the NPP and as a bulwark in Ghanaian politics. This was on the back of a fatal accident he suffered on his way from the enskinment of the Bole wura. He went toe to toe with one of Ghana’s most respected legal luminaries in the person of Lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata. The NPP lost the 2012 election petition however DMB displayed intelligence, analytical prowess and eloquence. The 2012 election petition was also telecasted on national TV and it gave DMB the opportunity to excel. It laid the foundation for his future ambitions as a leader.
In the run up to the 2016 elections Bawumia was a torn in the flesh of the ruling NDC as he popularised the word incompetence in description of the erstwhile John Dramani Mahama JDM. He held economic seminars and conferences across the length and breadth of the country. He has been heavily involved in all the campaigns since his announcement as running mate of NADAA. Since 2016 he has been at the forefront of Ghana politics as the vice president and the head of the Economic Management Team EMT.
Alan has been a leading, young, stalwart and key strategist of the NPP since its formation in 1992. He is a founding member and has served on the highest decision making body of the party. He has helped shaped the party’s strategic policy direction both in government and in opposition. He was a one time National Executive Committee member from 1992 and has always featured in the EMT when the party is in government. Again he was a founding member of the Young Executive Forum YEF which was an advocacy group in mobilizing together professionals and business men to support the development of the NPP across all communities.
On 17th April 2008, Alan Kyerematen submitted his resignation to the party chairman citing harassment of his supporters as the grounds for that decision. In the space of a month he had re-joined the party and was drafted into the campaign team of NADAA. After 2012 his presence was a bit diminished as he took up an international position. He is Ghana’s longest serving Trade and industry Minister under the fourth republic of Ghana
Renowned journalist of Citi FM/TV Sam Attah Mensah has opined that DMB stands the best chance of winning the flagbearer race for the NPP because he is the vice president for the last 8 years and has had much visibility. It is DMB’s race to lose. If you are close to the corridors of power, you get the vibe that indeed the wind of change is blowing in the favour of DMB.
It is alleged that the systems that make it difficult for members of the party, especially ministers and other appointees to boldly come out and declare their support for Alan Kyerematen have been put in place. It is believed that any one that rears his or her head might be used as a scape goat and his or her primaries will be undermined by the “systems that be” in the NPP. From where I stand, only Dr. Adomako Kissi MP for Anya-Sowotuom, Hon. Sylvester Tetteh MP for Ngleshi Amanfrom, Hon. Carlos Ahenkorah MP for Tema West and Hon.Abena Osei-Asare MP for Atiwa East (the only government appointee) are the few MPs that have thrown their weight behind Alan Kyerematen. It is alleged that about a 100 plus MP’s of the majority caucus have pledged their support for the candidacy of DMB when he announced his decision to run for the flagbearership of the NPP.
For whatever reasons best known to the NPP, it seems Bawumia has the urge over Alan. How an “outsider” is being accepted as the main contender in a party that has respect for tradition, only God knows! Has there been some under dealings that has made the NPP forgotten its commitment and principle of tradition? Is it that DMB has been loyal enough to be given the go ahead to lead the party as against the long standing servant Alan? The man who has served the party for the best part of his life since the inception of the party in 1992.
May be the NPP has been oblivious of the economic meltdown of the country under the leadership of DMB as the head of the Economic Management Team. The scourge of 2022 has not left the minds of the good people of Ghana. The country’s domestic debt is in excess of some 700 billion Ghana cedis. It has become unsustainable to service the debt of the country. The pain of the DDEB still lingers on. For a government that is unable to print textbooks for basic school pupils several years after introducing new curricular, unable to pay NABCO arrears and that is indebted to contractors and suppliers to the tune of over GHS 40 billion is this the best person that they can propose to their party folks? May be Alan cannot be excused of the economic meltdown witnessed under the Akufo Addo/ Bawumia administration because he was also a member of the EMT
Has the time come for the NPP to shed its propaganda tag as an Akan party? It has never had a northerner as its flag bearer. A barrier that has been broken by JDM in the NDC. This jinx is yet to be broken in the NPP. Even as the NPP decides to stick to the tradition or make a choice of loyalty are these two indeed their best candidates for the 2023 presidential primaries for the NPP? A test of tradition and loyalty to the party, who wins the 2024 presidential primaries? Is it the economic wiz kid DMB or Alan Cash?
Agnes Santaclaus
Columnist