All of a sudden, the shadow boxing between supporters of Vice-President Dr. Alhaji Mahmoud Bawumia and Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen, two presumed leading contenders in the race to be Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2024 has been fully blown into centre stage.
Dr. Gideon Boako, Spokesperson and Special Assistant to the Vice-President has removed the ‘kid gloves’ in the impending contest, by describing it as “a desperate attempt to create a false impression” of succession, by Mr. Kyerematen.
Dr. Boako’s beef stems from a clip making the rounds of Nana Addo, assuring Mr. Kyerematen of his support to become Flagbearer of the party after him, just as J. A. Kufuor had assured Nana Addo of his support to become President after him.
This statement, was after Nana Addo was declared winner in the 2007 NPP primaries at the University of Ghana, Legon. The primaries had resulted in a stalemate as none of the 17 candidates could cross the 50+1 votes required for a winner.
As per the rules, the two leading candidates, Nana Akufo-Addo and Mr. Kyerematen should have gone into a run-off to determine the winner, but Mr. Kyerematen stood down from contesting in favour of party unity.
This gesture seems to have touched Nana Akufo-Addo, the eventual winner, who in his acceptance speech, then pledged his support for Mr. Kyerematen in subsequent elections.
This is the clip making the rounds which appears to have gotten onto the raw side of the otherwise genteel Dr. Boako to throw care to the winds
.
But what could be the real reasons behind Dr. Boako’s tantrums?
Could it be that the clip is having a telling effect on Dr. Bawumia’s campaign and making Mr. Kyerematen look to be the more viable candidate? After all his show of incumbency support, the Vice-President cannot lay hands on any clip anointing him as successor to the President? Or could it just be that the Vice-President’s campaign is losing steam and his team are now beginning to hold on to straws to appear relevant?
For surely, Dr. Bawumia’s camp should be the last to accuse anybody of undertaking: “a desperate attempt to create a false impression”.
For the records, Dr. Bawumia had no history in the party until, luckily, being appointed running mate to then candidate Nana Akufo-Addo in 2007. He was never a founding member, never a card-bearing member, never a known sympathizer of the Party.
Indeed his late father, the late Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia, former Chairman of the Council of State (1992–2000), was a founding member of the Northern Peoples’ Party alongside Chief S. D. Dombo, Chief Abeifa Karbo, Yakubu Tali, the Tolon Naa, and J. A. Braimah, Kabachewura.
The NPP together with the, Anlo Youth Organisation (AYO), Muslim Association Party (MAP), Togoland Congress and Ga Shifimokpee, merged with the NLM to form the United Party in 1957 and was the major opposition party in Ghana’s first Parliament.
It is worth noting that while in Parliament, majority of Northern People’s Party now part of the UP, betrayed Chief Dombo, as they crossed carpet to join the CPP. Those who deserted Chief Dombo included Alhaji Bawumia, the Vice-President’s father who was then appointed the first regional Minister of the Northern Region.
Yet, Dr. Boako’s boss Dr. Bawumia, prides himself as a long-standing member of the New Patriotic Party and gleefully looks on as some of his misguided supporters deliberately distort history to make it appear as if his father was a founding member of the current NPP.
His father indeed was a full-fledged member of the NDC and was Chairman of the Council of State under late President JJ Rawlings.
Worst still, the Veep lays claim to being from the Dombo stock. Is this just because he, like Chief, is from the Northern region of Ghana or it is because his father betrayed Chief Dombo, and therefore, the UP in Parliament.
What can be more “a desperate attempt to create a false impression”, than this?
Dr. Boako’s assertion confirms that his boss is not well-steeped in NPP tradition, otherwise he would know that in the ‘NPP’ we compete and after the competition, we unite to beat the opposition”
The analogy he draws therefore cannot hold water.
Source:dailyghanaianguide
