NPP conference: Alan Kyerematen’s absence must be explained – Kwesi Pratt

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Managing editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, has questioned the basis for which one of the reported flagbearer hopefuls for the New Patriotic Party, Alan Kyerematen was conspicuously missing at the venue of the party’s annual delegates conference in Kumasi.

According to him, the Trade and Industry Minister was in the Ashanti region to attend the event, however, unfolding events on the day made him (Alan Kyerematen) abandon plans to show up.

Speaking on Alhaji and Alhaji, Saturday, January 15, 2022, Kwesi Pratt disclosed that supporters of Alan Kyerematen had planned a grande entry for him but that was not able to see the light of day.

The veteran journalist has thus tasked the NPP to provide formal justifications for the absence of one of the candidates famed to be one of the frontrunners in the flagbearership race of the party.

“We know…everybody knows that Mr. Alan Kyerematen was in Kumasi at the time of the conference….why was he not seen at the congress venue. What happened? Something must have happened. What is it that happened which did not enable him to enter the conference grounds?

"I don’t know but somebody must tell us because this has become the subject of speculation. Before the conference, we had heard that supporters of Alan Kyerematen were planning to match with him to the conference venue and indeed elaborate plans had been made to usher him into the conference venue. What happened…why were those plans abandoned if indeed those plans existed, only party insiders can tell us” he said.

Kwesi Pratt Jnr further expressed concerns over the level of unfairness being meted to other candidates who stick their necks out to declare their intention to contest for a position in the party.

He said such developments had the tendency of creating divisions within the party, stressing that it could hinder the party’s quest to break the eight-year power cycle jinx.