A Political Scientist at the University of Ghana, Dr. Alidu Seidu says, the New Patriotic Party(NPP’s) flagbearer aspirant, Mr. Alan Kyeremanteng’s statement that the party“must win” the 2016 elections “at all cost,” shows desperation.
“Saying you want to win power at all cost expresses not only desperation, but also not learning lessons from what has happened within the party and within the politics of this country,” Mr. Seidu said
“I think that I agree with the fact that the NPP needs to win power in 2016 but I don’t agreewith the qualification that it must be done at all cost.Unless that simple qualification at all cost is defined very well to include peaceful constitutional ways of going about it,” he added.
Mr. Kyeremangteng did not only emphasize the need for the party to win elections at all cost, but also stated that “the thought of losing” the next Presidential election was “frightening” and “difficult to contemplate.”
Mr. Seidu cautioned Mr. Kyeremanteng to be”watchful and careful of the words that he uses ahead of the party’s primaries and national elections.
He recalled that Nana Akufo Addo’s All Die Be Die statement was a clear example of the negative repercussions ambiguous statements could bring.
A friend to Mr. Kyeremanteng, Mr. Ohene Ntow defended Alan Kyerematen saying his comments were made in a specific context.
“When he[Alan Kyeremanteng] made his comments,he did not leave it hanging, he premised it within a certain context ,”he explained.
I don’t think that anybody who knows Kyeremangteng well, will conclude that Keyeremangeteng is suggesting that we do things that are illegitimate or unlawful,” Mr. Ntow added.
In a speech to NPP supporters in New York, Mr. Kyeremanteng stated that the time has come for the party to give Ghanaian voters a new Presidential Candidate instead of repeating Nana Addo as its flagbearer.
Defending Mr. Kyeremanteng’s comments about Nana Akufo Addo, Mr. Ntow said “I don’t think that what Kyeremanteng said about Nana Akufo Addo was negative in any sense.”
“Who doesn’t know that Nana Akuffo Addo was the party’s candidate in 2008 and in 2012….I don’t think that it is wrong to say that we have tried Nana Addo for these two occasions and I think that there is the need to try another person’’
Mr. Ntow opined that Mr. Kyeremanteng’s comments would have only been inappropriate “if he had attacked Nana Addo, insulted him or said anything negative.”
By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana