<<Print>>

Supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) who are hankering for the party to win the 2012 polls have insisted that a Nana Akufo-Addo/Alan Kyerematen bid is the best for the party. The NPP delegates, drawn from the Ashanti region and beyond, are reportedly insisting that the pairing of Nana Akufo-Addo and Mr. Kyerematen would brighten the party�s chances of unseating the NDC. The NPP faithful, mostly leading members who contribute financially to the party�s campaign process, have therefore called on Nana Addo to pick Alan as his running mate. This call came to light when Nana Akufo-Addo, accompanied by other NPP stalwarts like Jake Obestebi-Lamptey and Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, stormed Kumasi during the all-hands-on-deck tour recently. Reports monitored by Daily Guide across other regions like Brong Ahafo and the Eastern are no different as the party faithful in those areas are also said to be craving for a Nana/Alan pair. During Nana Addo�s tour to Kumasi recently, most of the NPP faithful that converged on the True Vine Hotel at Nhyiaeso were seen openly rooting for a Nana Akufo-Addo/Alan Kyeremanten ticket for the polls. The delegates, who spoke on anonymity, insisted that Nana Addo picking Alan Kyerematen as his running mate would for once unite the perceived Nana Addo/Alan camps in the party. According to them, the move would also promote internal unity in the NPP and encourage every party member to contribute their quota in the campaign process to unseat the NDC. The delegates said the party did not approach the 2008 elections with a common front due to the then perceived Nana/Alan camps and this allowed the NDC to win the elections. According to them, the NPP surrendered political power to the NDC easily because of lack of cohesion in the party then, adding that they would not want the party to repeat such a mistake. They said the NDC administration�s poor performance so far had brightened the NPP�s chances of snatching political power so the party hierarchy should act accordingly to win the elections. The delegates, who claimed to have voted massively for Nana Addo during the NPP congress, said Mr. Kyeremanten still commanded a large support base across the country, especially among the youth. They argued that if Nana Addo picked Mr. Kyeremanten as his running mate, it would motivate or attract the youth and women, most of who are known to be Alan fans, to vote for the NPP in 2012 to win power. The NPP delegates therefore appealed to Nana Akufo-Addo to pick Mr. Kyerematen as his running mate to make it easy for the party to win the upcoming polls. Asked whether the all Akan pair of Nana/Alan would affect the party�s chances, especially with regard to winning votes in the three northern regions, the delegates answered in the negative. They said previous records of Ghanaian politics had proved that northerners didn�t necessarily vote for parties because a person from the north was elected as running mate. They cited former President Rawlings, who in 1992 and 1996 picked Kow Nkensen Arkaaah and Prof Mills respectively from the south as his running mates, and yet won on those occasions, to buttress their claim. They again argued that the NPP had continually picked a person from the north as running mate, yet the party�s performance in that part of the country had not been encouraging. The NPP delegates said these instances clearly showed that those from northern Ghana looked for a credible and effective candidate before they cast their vote but not the tribe of the candidate. They therefore implored Nana Addo to pick Mr. Kyerematen as his running mate because they believed he had the qualities to help Nana Addo become Ghana�s next president in 2012.