Alan Kyerematen postpones NPP pull-out press conference – but expected to run for 2024
Kyerematen is said to have informed his supporters that he intends to pull out of the NPP race but will contest the 2024 election
A press conference that was to be addressed by a presidential candidate hopeful of the ruling New Patriotic Party, Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen, where he was expected to announce his decision to pull out of the 4 November 2023 NPP presidential primaries, has been postponed indefinitely by the Alan for President (A4P) campaign team.
According to sources within his inner circle of advisors, not only had he been expected to pull out, but the former trade minister hinted on Sunday that several options remain available to him as far as him political career is concerned.
The options which may include running for the December 2024 general elections under a different circumstance, other than on the ticket of the NPP, our checks show, has angered many of his core team members, particularly the parliamentarians. Notable among them are Sylvester Tetteh and Davis Opoku Ansah.
The notice of cancellation of today’s press conference was posted on social media by the A4P team. It reads: “This is to kindly inform the general public that the press conference scheduled for today, Tuesday 5 September 2023, at Mövenpick Ambassador Hotel at 2pm has been cancelled. Any inconvenience caused is deeply regretted.”
A4P consultations
According Asaase News sources familiar with his recent engagements with his co-ordinators and supporters, Kyerematen informed them at a meeting on Sunday (3 September) that he intends to pull out of the NPP presidential primaries but will contest the December 2024 general election.
Some members of his team, the Asaase News sources said, pushed Kyerematen for more clarity on his decision.
Essentially, they wanted to know if he was going to contest as an independent candidate, whether or not he was going to join a political party, or if he intends to form his own political party before the December 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections.
However, he is said to have left the matter vague.
Support base
Before the press conference was cancelled, some known supporters of Alan Kyerematen had taken to social media to pledge their allegiance to the New Patriotic Party.
The MP for Mpraeso in the Eastern Region, Davis Opoku Ansah (alias OPK), a known Alan loyalist since 2006, took to his Facebook wall where he posted the NPP symbol and wrote “100%” above the symbol.
OPK’s message appears clear: that his loyalty is first and foremost to the party and he would not support any breakaway move.
If Alan had gone ahead with his press conference, his projected announcement to pull out of the race would not have come as a surprise because of his poor showing in the first round of voting in August by the party, which trimmed the numbers of candidates from the original ten aspirants to five.
Even though Kyerematen, who was contesting for the fourth time, was among the five candidates shortlisted for November, he was left trailing in third place by two new entrants, Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia, who won an overwhelming 68% of the special electoral college vote, followed by Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, the MP for Assin Central, who came a distant second with a little over 14%.
Kyerematen was seen by many as the heir presumptive to Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. Being beaten into third place by two new entrants, Bawumia and Agyapong, has deflated his dwindling band of supporters.
His bad showing will also make it extremely difficult to raise the funds he will need to campaign across the country and meet the delegates, who are in excess of 200,000.
Kyerematen came a distant second or third in all 16 regions, losing by worrying margins in the four regions where he had expected to make a decent showing, namely Ashanti, Central, Greater Accra and Volta.
The fact is that, in effect, his poor showing in the first round of voting has killed off his mantra of “Aduru Wo So” (“It’s your turn”).
Reporting by Wilberforce Asare in Accra
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