New Patriotic Party (NPP) delegates, who took part in the party’s Special Delegate Conference in the Ashanti Region are being accused of betraying a former presidential hopeful of the party, Alan Kyerematen, by not voting for him.
However, an associate dean of Business Administration and Communication Arts, at Academic City University College, Prof. Enoch Opoku Antwi, has given an explanation as to why Alan lost massively in his home region, which was deemed to be his stronghold.
Speaking in an interview on XYZ TV, on Thursday, September 7, 2023, Prof Opoku Antwi indicated Alan neglected most of his supporters in the Ashanti Region, who were denied positions in the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government.
According to him, these people joined the Akufo-Addo camp because they were not getting any assurance from Alan.
“When Akufo-Addo won, all those he knew were Alan supporters were not given positions… and the mistake Alan made was that he did not reach out to those people. If because of Alan, they did not get any position in government, he (Alan) was supposed to reach out to them and promise them positions when he comes to power – that did not happen.
“Some of these guys awaited on the peripheral, waiting for Alan to come and tell them something. It never happened and eventually, they were roped into Akufo-Addo’s government. Now they began to walk away from Akufo-Addo and he never saw it,” he said.
The academic indicated that the results of the Special Delegate Congress in the Ashanti, where Alan lost massively to Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, showed that he had lost his base.
He suggested that the result in the Ashanti Region was one of the reasons Alan opted to withdraw from the race.
"If you look at what happened at the supper delegates … the Ashanti people failed Alan and that is his stronghold... They took the leader off his feet. And when you have people like Osei-Kyei-Mensah and the others coming to say that people should not contest, they should give it to Bawumia.
“It means that the people you were expecting to support you at your stronghold have failed you. In the Ashanti Region, Bawumia had almost 80% of the vote, more than any other region and it meant to Alan that he didn’t have that kind of base. And if you don’t have a base, you can’t have a pace,” he added.
Watch the interview below:
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