A US-based Ghanaian lecturer, Prof. Kwabena Dei Ofori-Atta, has said that Alan Kyerematen, a former New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer hopeful, knows that he has no chance of winning the 2024 elections as an independent candidate.

Speaking in an interview on UTV, on Monday, September 25, 2023, Prof Ofori-Atta indicated that the only motive for Alan running as an independent candidate is to prevent the NPP from winning the 2024 elections.

He added that even Dr Kwame Nkrumah, when he broke away from the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), formed his own party, the Convention People's Party (CPP), to get people to follow him, which Alan should have done if he really wanted to become president.

“… Nkrumah got angry and left his party, but he did not run for the presidency as an independent candidate. He formed his party, the CPP, and got a lot of followers. When Paa Willie also broke away from Busia’s party, he did not go independent, he formed his own party, the UNC (United National Convention).

“What Alan is doing is just hurt the NPP, he does not want the party to win the next elections… His thinking is that if the NPP is going to retain power without him as the party’s candidate then the party should collapse,” he said in Twi.

He added that Alan’s action shows that he is ungrateful because the NPP has done so much for him.

Watch the interview below:



About Alan’s resignation from the NPP and running as an independent candidate in the 2024 election:

Speaking at a press conference in Accra, on Monday, September 25, 2023, Alan Kyerematen announced his decision to leave the NPP and also contest as an independent candidate in the 2024 presidential elections.

He said that even though it was his wish to become president of Ghana on the ticket of the NPP, the party has now been hijacked by ‘unscrupulous party apparatchiks’.

“The NPP as it exists now has very little resemblance to the Party that I joined in 1992 and helped to nurture. The Party has been hijacked by a selected group of Party leaders and elders, government appointees, 'behind the curtain power brokers' and some unscrupulous party apparatchiks.

“... I wish to use this platform to announce that I am honourably resigning from the New Patriotic Party to contest for the high office of the President of the Republic of Ghana in the 2024 general elections as an independent presidential candidate,” he said.

Alan added that his presidential ambition would be run by a movement led by the youth.

“To actualise this goal, I will establish and lead a new MOVEMENT FOR CHANGE in Ghana. The brand logo for the MOVEMENT is the Monarch Butterfly, which politically symbolizes change and transformation, hope, and positivity. It also communicates strength, endurance, spirituality, and trust, which are key traits that I cherish as a Political Leader. In Akan, it is known as Afrafranto. The brand motto of the MOVEMENT is “Ghana Will Rise Again,” which symbolizes hope for the future of Ghana.

“The new Movement will be led and powered by the youth of Ghana. Out of the over 17 million registered voters in the 2020 general election, the youth aged 18-35, years constituted over 9.4 million voters representing 55% of the total voters,” he said.

BAI/OGB



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