Media Advised Against Rumour Peddling

A presidential hopeful of the New Patriotic Party, Mr Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen, has chastised a section of the media for buying into the rumour and vile propaganda mounted by his political detractors to discredit him.

He described the situation as most unfortunate, and intimated that,''when you carry out such negative reportage about me without verifying its authenticity, you are injuring my reputation.''

Mr Kyerematen said apart from his significant contributions to the fortunes of the NPP over the years, he had also lived in the country for long and went through the political grill in the party since its formation in 1992.

''It is also important to note that I have chalked a lot of successes in my career, spanning thirty years for which reason I have the wherewithal to lead the party to victory in 2008 when given the mandate in the December congress,'' the aspirant added.

Mr Kyerematen was addressing the press in Tamale last weekend at the close of his week-long tour of the 26 constituencies in the Northern Region, where he interacted with party executives and solicited their support.

A large number of party supporters turned out earlier in the day to welcome the presidential hopeful to the Tamale metropolis.

Mr Kyerematen further stressed that it was unethical for a section of the media to allow themselves to be used to misinform the general public on his abilities to lead the party.

''We need to go back to edit and refine the quality of journalism to accelerate the development of this country.''

The aspirant acknowledged the important role of the media and said, ''you should promote me but at the same time criticise me constructively if I go wrong and God willing, next time I am addressing you, I would be doing so as the president of Ghana,'' he expressed optimism.

The former minister explained that he was attracting a lot of negative propaganda because, ''not only is it part of the vagaries of politics, which I understand very well, but because I pose a serious threat to the ambitions of some people.''

He said further that success in politics was about strategy and effective organisation, an expectation to which he was living up to, with his campaign team.

Mr Kyerematen refuted allegations that he was giving meaning to his nickname, ''Allan Cash'' by dishing out huge sums of money to party supporters.

''I only reimburse party faithful from far and wide who turn out at our meetings to discuss the way forward for our party,'' the aspirant explained.

On the assertion that he was President Kufuor's favourite candidate, he said, ''the fact that the president has acknowledged having a favourite but would be fair to all the candidates should now put the matter to rest.''

The aspirant, who is a lawyer and an economist, was emphatic that, he was his own man who was capable of taking his own decisions.

He emphasised that he was the only candidate with the capability to galvanise and stimulate the support of the party's foot soldiers, which he had succeeded in doing in the past two years.

Mr Kyerematen expressed optimism that the delegates would repose their confidence in him to usher the country into sustained prosperity.

He described his campaign tour of the region as very successful as he was encouraged by what he had heard and seen. ''If there is one region I can count on in my candidature, it is certainly the Northern Region, “ he said.

The aspirant amplified the fact that the government had done so much to win the confidence of the people for which reason the party needed to consolidate the gains made by not being complacent but to vote for ''Allan Cash'' as the marketable candidate with the mass appeal to win votes.

He stated however that, ''in the unlikely event that I don't win, I would throw my weight behind the eventual winner.''

Story by Zakaria Alhassan,