In the past few days, Mr. Alan Kyerematen, three time flagbearer hopeful of our great NPP and his campaign have been on a mission to bastardize the ongoing Presidential Primary process flying allegations of intimidation and an uneven playing field, ostensibly to justify his poor 7.9% showing at the Super Delegates Congress held last Sunday.
Of particular concern to me, is how Mr. Kyerematen and his campaign, in their attempt to further this agenda have deliberately made the three regions of the north their target and have been on rampage running down the whole process in the North; making spurious allegations which can only be sustained in the fertile imaginations of Mr. Kyerematen and his supporters.
The message to Mr. Kyerematen even before I proceed is, do not provoke the North. That is the last thing you should try to do because we were not born today. We have been witnesses of the actions of yourself and your assigns concerning the North and how it has grossly affected the chances of the Party in the North since you decided to see the NPP flagbearership as your birthright in 2007 and how those actions have affected our chances in the North especially in the 2008 elections. No more will we sit and watch you run down the Party and its structures in the North from the comfort of your Accra and Kumasi homes.
Mr. Alan Kyerematen is today complaining of intimidation and an uneven playing field? To borrow from Philip Addison, this coming from Mr. Kyerematen is very rich. In as much as we always try to avoid the temptation of going back into history, the actions and posturing of Mr. Kyerematen and his spokespersons like Nana Ohene Ntow and the bitter Hilda Addo, leave some of us no option than to dig into the past and expose their hypocrisy, double standards and total lack of principles.
Mr. Alan Kyerematen, is where he is today and considered (rather absurdly) as the second force in the NPP because of all the acts of intimidation and open coercion of the people in his favor prior to the 2007 Legon Congress. It was these acts of intimidation and a deliberate exercise by the then executive commandeered by very highly placed people, which ensured that Alan Kyerematen secured 32% of votes at the Legon Congress and on which he rode to cause disunity within the NPP after that Congress. Without that direct interference and intimidating tactics, Mr. Kyerematen could have very well been another Arthur Kennedy at the 2007 Legon Congress and indeed time has been vindicating this belief, as his support has continued to wane from 32% to 19% in 2010 and now to 7% (59 votes) in 2014.
As I said in an earlier paragraph, we in the North cannot forget certain actions in the past and it is only strange that of the lot, Mr. Kyerematen, who has by far been the biggest beneficiary of uneven playing fields and intimidation in the internal processes of the NPP, is the one crying wolf today when indeed the whole process is under a Chairman and General Secretary who have made no attempt to hide their preference for him.
What is this intimidation and uneven playing field I talk about? In the run up to the December 2007 Congress, Mr. Kyerematen was declared as the preferred choice of President Kufuor; this is a fact no one can dare to deny. To this extent, every force and tool of the Executive was marshaled to ensure that Mr. Kyerematen became Flagbearer of the NPP. Nowhere was this force more visible than the North
On November 19, 2007 barely a month to the Legon Congress, some DCEs were fired unceremoniously by President Kufuor; these DCEs included Mada Ismail Beliwie (Sissala West), Adams Mahama Isahaku (Wa East), Abdul-Rahman Gumah (Bawku Municipality), Moses Appiah Abaare (Bawku West), Elizabeth Pigit Poyari (Bunkpurugu), Alhaji Yakubu Bukari (Zabzugu-Tatale), Salamatu Elizabeth Furgor (Bole) and Sebastian Tibil Bisnab (Talensi-Nabdam).
Their crime was simple, they had refused to bend to the excessive force brought to bear on them by Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani and his representative in the North, Paul Afoko (who at the time also doubled as coordinator for the Alan Campaign in the North) for them to support the bid of Mr. Alan Kyerematen and do all within the constituencies that fell within their districts to ensure that delegates selected were predisposed to Alan Kyerematen as other DCEs across the country were doing openly.
Some of these DCEs preferred Alhaji Aliu Mahama, but not even the office of the Vice President, could stop the bulldozing Alan Kyerematen Campaign from getting what it wanted and punishing “recalcitrant” officials who were refusing to back his destiny. Indeed the machinations and intimidating tactics were so terrifying that other DCEs were even afraid to extend basic courtesies to the then sitting Vice President during his visits to their Districts.
But November 2007 is even far because these intimidating and ‘will-twisting’ tactics started long before. At the end of July 2007, the Castle took one decision that went a long way to destroy the NPPs chances for the 2008 elections in the two upper regions. Mr. Ambrose Derry, Upper West Minister who was performing tremendously well and who together with the Party in the region were laying the foundations for a capture of the region was abruptly reassigned to the Presidency as Minister of State. The fate of his compatriot in the Upper East, Boniface Agambilla, was worse. He had been in office for only a few months and was doing tremendously well for the Region but strangely he was dismissed from office. The crimes of these two gentlemen were same as that of the DCEs mentioned above. These two had remained steadfast in their decision not to support Mr. Kyerematen; they had to therefore give way.
Indeed, it is a well known fact that the NPP would have captured the Nabdam seat in the 2008 Elections had Mr. Boniface Agambilla not been dismissed; eventually and to vindicate this belief, he captured it in 2012 from long time MP, Moses Asaga.
These actions and other acts of unhidden subversion of the powers of Constituency executives and Regional executives by the Alan Kyerematen camp, led by Paul Afoko, created serious disunity in the ranks of the Party in the three regions of the North and weakened the Party’s resolve to do serious battle ahead of the 2008 Elections and it is only now that the Party in the North seems to have recovered from these actions and is forging ahead to do all it can to wrestle power from the NDC in 2016.
It is for this reason why I sounded the warning earlier that, not again. We in the North will not allow Alan Kyerematen to once again destroy the little progress we are making. No!
What Mr. Kyerematen should know by now is that the people of the North cannot be intimidated to go in any direction against their will. If the people of the North can be intimidated, Mr. Kyerematen would have secured the votes of delegates of the three regions in 2007 but that was not the case despite all the force and billions sent into the three regions by Paul Afoko in attempt to buy the will of the people. So once again, Mr. Kyerematen should not provoke us.
SOURCE: myjoyonline.com
