Alan Cash Cries Foul, Quits Race …Whereas Ken Is Ready For Showdown

Just before sunset of yesterday, Tuesday September 5, 2023, the immediate-past Minister for Trades and Industry, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen issued a press statement he had personally signed to officially announce to the public that he has withdrawn from the race to elect a 2024 presidential candidate for the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

“In the next upcoming weeks, I will provide an indication of the role that I will play in politics in Ghana, after consultations with my family and other well-wishers, various stakeholders and interest groups”, Mr. Kyeremanten noted in his press statement.

Mr. Kyeremanten blamed his eleventh-hour chickening out of the race on what he described as an “unprecedented” high “level of intimidation of varying intensity, directly and indirectly unleashed on a significant number of Delegates at various Voting Centers across the sixteen regions” of the country when the NPP held its August 26, 2023 Super Delegates Conference to shortlist the number of wannabe flagbearers from ten to 5.

Alan Kyeremanten alias Alan Cash, placed a surprising third with a total of 95 votes representing 10.29 percent at the said August 26 Super Delegates Conference which had some 961 delegates of the party voting.

He was beaten by first time entrant, Kennedy Agyapong, who gathered 132 votes to represent 14.3 percent.

The Vice President, Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia, also a first time entrant, won a landslide comfortable lead with a total votes of 629 representing 68.15 percent of all valid votes.

Dr. Bawumia’s margin of lead has been interpreted as a reflection of the party’s wishes at the grassroots level considering the fact that a significant 701 delegates out of the total 961 which formed the Electoral College for the Super Delegates Conference are direct grassroots officials and members of the Party

It is expected that the voting trend witnessed on August 26 would be repeated at the November 4 nationwide presidential primaries.

Both the campaign teams of Kennedy and Alan said they would win the November 4 congress to elect the actual flagbearer and that their popularity across the party should not be judged by the results of the Super Delegates Conference.

Though the campaign team of Kennedy Agyapong had also raised red flags about some aspects of the conduct of the August 26 polls, the team has resumed a full swing and rather spirited campaign ahead of the November 4 race.

Kyeremanten’s withdrawal came as a surprise to many.

Here is the full press statement he issued: “On Sunday, the 27th of August 2023, I issued a public statement which made reference to the selection and shortlisting of Presidential Aspirants by the Special Electoral College convened by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on the 26th of August 2023.

After having carefully analysed the results of the said elections, it is absolutely clear to me from events leading to, during and after the elections, that the Special Delegates Conference was strategically and tactically skewed in favour of one particular Aspirant.

The pronouncements made by some leading Members of our Party both before and after the elections, also lend weight to my observations.

The level of intimidation of varying intensity, directly and indirectly unleashed on a significant number of Delegates at various Voting Centers across the sixteen regions, is unprecedented in the history of our Party. In addition, the fact that my Polling Agent in the North East region has suffered severe damage to his eye sight, arising from his bold and courageous effort to ensure compliance with the very rules and regulations for the conduct of the elections as approved by the Presidential Elections Committee, will forever remain a dark spot in the history of internal elections within the Party. This incident and various acts of violence and collusion, reported in other Voting Centers, are appalling, unconscionable, and despicable.

1 am committed to, and value the safety of those who work with me and for me, and I will always fight for their interest.

The question I keep asking myself is, “How did we get here as a Party in the first place, and how far are we prepared to tread on this dangerous path to self-destruction?”

Regrettably, I am not convinced that the circumstances I have referred to earlier, will not persist or even be escalated in the next round of elections, for which balloting is scheduled for Wednesday, 6th of September 2023.

In light of the foregoing, I wish to confirm that I am honourably withdrawing from the process that will lead to the Presidential Primaries to be held on the 4th of November 2023. In the next upcoming weeks, I will provide an indication of the role that I will play in politics in Ghana, after consultations with my family and other well-wishers, various stakeholders and interest groups.

I wish all the other Aspirants well as they continue on their journey. I also wish to use this opportunity to express my profound gratitude once again to my family, the Alan 4 President (A4P) Campaign Team, and all my teeming supporters in Ghana and from around the world, who have supported me in diverse ways over the years. Please be assured that the battle is still the Lord’s, and that those who wait upon the Lord shall have their strength renewed.

God bless our homeland Ghana and make our nation great and strong!

………Signed………..

HON. ALAN KYEREMATEN