Stop the Insinuation, Blackmailing, NPP Founder Tells Sympathizers of Nana Addo, Alan

Issah Alhassan
A FOUNDING member of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. George Ayisi-Boateng has deplored the seeming “cold war” gradually emerging between sympathizers of the former flag bearer of the party, Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo and Mr. Kwadwo Alan Kyerematen, and has subsequently called on both of them to desist from acts that have the tendency to tear the party apart.

According to the NPP founding member, the resort to casting of insinuations and blackmailing by admirers of the two personalities could spell doom for the party if not immediately nipped in the bud.

Speaking to The Chronicle in a telephone interview on his views concerning reports that some sympathizers of Mr. Alan Kyerematen were not happy about the rousing welcome accorded the former flag bearer of the party, Nana Akufo-Addo, after his arrival last Sunday from his two months tour to Europe.

Mr.Ayisi Boateng said even though it was not wrong for any group or individuals to declare their support for any potential candidate of the party, what is worrying is the acrimony, hatred and the prejudices that have characterized their mode of operations.

Some supporters of the former Trade and Industry Minister in the previous administration and a runner-up in the party's 2007 flagbearership congress, Mr. Alan Kyerematen, led by his confidante, Mr. John Kumah, were reported to have raised eyebrows over the bussing of party supporters to the Kotoka International Airport to welcome Nana Akufo-Addo on his return from abroad, describing it as an attempt by national executives of the party to demoralize potential presidential candidates from contesting at the party's next congress.

But according to Mr. Ayisi-Boateng, who is also the Managing Director of the Asafo Goil Filling Station in Kumasi, criticisms by sympathizers of Mr. Kyerematen were unjustifiable, arguing that there was nothing wrong if some supporters of the party decided to offer a rousing welcome to the former flag bearer of the party, just as it would not be out of place for any group to also declare their support for any member of the party who wishes to contest in the next flagbearership congress.

He, however, cautioned that such agenda must be approached with decorum, civility and lack of hatred, so as not to disintegrate the structures of the party.

Mr. Ayisi-Boateng said he was not happy with the entrenched position taken by a group calling itself “Friends of Alan Cash Campaign”, led by veteran journalist and former Editor of the Kumasi-based Weekly newspaper, Kumasi Mail, Mr. Joseph Boakye-Kwakwa, which seemed to have taken a hardcore stance against Nana Addo's retention.

He noted that the question of who leads the party to the 2012 general elections should not be a matter of concern for now since the constitution of the party clearly spells out the processes involved in the selection of presidential candidates, adding that “it is not the first time the NPP has gone through a situation of choosing presidential candidate while in opposition.”

The founding member, however, stressed that what is important now is for the party to approach its activities with unity and a common sense of purpose.