An aide to Nana Akufo Addo, Mustapha Hamid says flagbearer aspirant, Alan Kyeremateng has ‘’a mountain to climb’’ in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) before he becomes the party’s flagbearer.
‘’Alan Kyeremateng has a mountain to climb inside the party before he makes a bid for the presidency outside of the party,’’ Mustapha Hamid stated.
”He has put his popularity to the test inside the party twice; in 2007 when he allegedly had the backing of the entire government machinery, he got 32 percent of the vote. In 2010 when all that machinery was not available to him, he got approximately 20 percent…,” he added.
He was reacting to Mr. Alan Kyeremanteng’s claims that Nana Akufo Addo’s seeming popularity within the NPP does not make him the best option ahead of 2016.
‘’Akufo- Addo’s strong positioning within the party, is not necessarily a reflection of what will help the party gain power in 2016,” Mr. Kyeremateng said on Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana programme on Tuesday.
The former Minister of Trade said the party cannot continue to do things the same way, after losing two successive elections. ‘’ …You cannot do things the same way and expect different results. Let’s interrogate why we lost. If we interrogate why we lost, that provides us with some clue as to what we need to do differently,” he said.
But Mustapha Hamid said Nana Addo will not be the first person to make a third attempt at the presidency. He further stated that the voter population in the NPP have rejected Mr. Kyeremateng twice in his bid to be flagbearer of the party let alone winning the votes of the whole of Ghana.
‘’I don’t see how he convinces us that he [Alan Kyeremateng] is capable of becoming president when the first hurdle that he has to cross to even attempt to be president is difficult…,’’ he opined.
Mr Hamid, however, suggested that if Mr. Kyeremateng thinks he is that popular and the Ghanaians want him, he should try standing as an independent candidate for the presidency.
”People who are saying they are popular in the whole country, amongst the population but are not popular within the NPP. No doubt its the population that they need to be president and therefore they don’t need the NPP machine; in that sense let Alan Kyeremateng maybe try and run as an independent candidate, because the constitution allows him to run. He doesn’t necessarily has to run on a ticket,” Mustapha suggested.
By: Evans Effah/citifmonline.com/Ghana