I met with Alan Kwadwo Kyeramaten at his Airport Residential Area office on Thursday 11th September, 2014 for a discussion on my political future and his ambition to lead the NPP for the 2016 Election. Alan, I must admit he was articulate and clear in his vision for the NPP and his vision of growth and prosperity under an NPP government.
Alan recognised the fact that I come from a thoroughbred Danquah-Dombo-Busia family starting with my late grandfather Mallam Braimah Salifu who was a friend to Chief SD Dombo through to my late father Alhaji Mahama Salifu who founded and worked so hard for the NPP in Bole-Bamboi and Gonjaland, commiting more resources on NPP than any other Gonja before the party won the 2000 election.
He entreated me not to sit on the fence but take my rightful place in the party having also been the youngest delegate at the 1992 Congress of the party, having worked so hard for the party in the past and having occupied a position like constituency Secretary for Bole-Bamboi.
I wish to state emphatically that I am not NDC; I have never been NDC and will never be NDC because I do not believe in their ideology.
On my political stance, I wish to say I will choose Alan Kyeramaten ten times over John Mahama (my mother’s brother) but for some reasons will choose John Mahama over Nana Akufo-Addo. I will never support any candidate surrounded by ingrates, bootlickers and gaping sycophants.
I completely reason with Alan when he told me at the meeting that, the misfortune of being in perpetual opposition has been treated as nothing more than a staging opportunity in self
aggrandisement for the few who profit in self-promotion and popularity at the expense of the election misfortunes of the NPP.
Alan believes the effective role of the youth in National development depends on their development today. He said he has always supported the need to build an NPP youth that would efficiently and effectively partake in governance in the next generation of leadership disclosing that the Young Executive Forum they formed in 1992 ensured many of them were groomed to help in national development when NPP won power in 2000.
I sincerely believe the NPP will only remain relevant if it elects Alan Kyeramaten as flagbearer. An NPP defeat in 2016 would likely lead to another defeat in 2020. The truth is the NPP under an Akufo-Addo’s flagbearership would struggle in beating John Mahama.
The NPP won the debate on bread and butter issues during the 2008 and 2012 elections but lost the elections on attributes of their candidate. Alan is the only one out of the three contesting the October 18 NPP primaries who can beat John Mahama squarely on all other factors besides bread and butter issues; the reason being that he is seen to have less baggage as compared to Nana Akufo-Addo. John Mahama won in 2012 not necessarily based on the performance of NDC in government but how Ghanaians saw him: humble, polite, gentle, easy going, non-violent, relatively young, handsome etc.
These are qualities Ghanaians can never be convinced Akufo-Addo has. Alan is perceived to have these attributes ten times over John Mahama. So mathematically if Alan cancels all the good attributes of John Mahama, other factors like morality comes into play and you can guess for yourself the one that will have the advantage.
Should Alan contest against John Mahama in 2016 and even lose, he would have marketed himself and be ready to defeat any NDC candidate in 2020 by which time NDC will be presenting a fresh candidate. Alan would have an advantage because he would have the experience the NDC Presidential candidate would not have.
If Nana Akufo-Addo becomes NPP flagbearer again, the 2016 election is not likely to be keenly contested as being predicted. As a matter of fact, all the evidence indicates that the election will be a cakewalk for President Mahama.
Should the Ghanaian economy improve, John Mahama would not only be re-elected as President, he will be re-elected by a landslide. After all the Ghanaian economy was bad in 2012 according to NPP, but it took John Mahama only three months of campaign to beat an overrated Akufo-Addo
I have always supported and worked tirelessly for Nana Akufo-Addo. I have written over thirty articles, spoken on Radio and engaged in many debates to support Nana Akufo-Addo. I worked for The Statesman Newspaper from 2003-2006 because of the love I had for Akufo-Addo.
As a young boy I was enchanted by the way Nana Akufo-Addo put issues across, his courage, his proven organisational skills, his commitment to the ideals of the NPP and the Danquah-Busia tradition and his Youth friendliness.
Many would be surprised with my current stance because I have always stood by Nana Akufo-Addo mainly for his staunch and unflinching loyalty to the NPP, his epic battles against the NDC government under Jerry Rawlings and his unmatchable financial investments to the NPP in the dark days of opposition.
I strongly supported him at the 1998 Congress NPP at Sunyani and it will interest readers to know I was one of the delegates dropped by the then Northern Regional Chairman because I openly supported Nana Akufo-Addo. In the run up to the 2007 Presidential Primaries of the NPP, I staunchly supported Nana Akufo-Addo and was made a member of his Communication Committee.
During the 2010 National Executive Elections because I was convinced he would support Nana Akufo-Addo's bid to be our Flagbearer. During the 2010 NPP Presidential Primaries , I did not only write several features in furtherance of Nana Akufo-Addo's course but also realised Bole-Bamboi was a difficult area so I became Nana Akufo-Addo's accredited Agent in the Constituency. I played a pivotal role in ensuring Nana Akufo-Addo got the majority of votes in the constituency.
But the dynamics have changed. Alan Kyeramaten is my candidate for 2016.
By Mahama Haruna