It’s been an incredibly complicated week for the New Patriotic Party NPP.
Before its very eyes, this week, it witnessed a part of its umbilical cord painfully expurgated through the announcement by Alan Kyerematen that he is ready to lead the country as its first independent candidate president.
‘Alan Cash’, as he is affectionately called, is not just a stalwart of the party but a founding member. For him to resign from the NPP, speaks volumes.
Transitional Challenges of the NPP
To say Alan Kyeremanten’s announcement last Monday that he was “resigning with immediate effect from the NPP to contest the 2024 elections as an independent presidential candidate” has shaken the party will be an understatement.
And the early reaction from the party namely; the official expression of disappointment, the order to remove posters, to the subtle attacks on Alan on social media and his stoic defence of his roots and why he deserves respect, suggest we are in a very interesting time where this subject simply won’t go away.
In essence, the NPP is having to deal with a fresh transitional challenge, something many of the old generation within the party know all too well about. They also know this could get very complicated. A founding member, now tagged as a renegade by the party itself, Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe buttresses this viewpoint.
He says “Historically, an independent candidate has not done well in this country. To me, his resignation will have an effect on the NPP. If it did, he will have to look more in the Ashanti Region where he may get some votes. I don’t believe that he will get votes from any other region, believe me.”’
This is not the first time that the battle for the soul of the party has turned messy. Observers are convinced that the rancour around who to be President Kufuor’s successor, when he was about to exit the scene after serving his constitutionally mandated two terms, among others, led the NPP into opposition after the 2008 general elections. It was so intense that the party had to reform its processes.
It created an electoral college to whittle down the number of presidential aspirants to five and expanded the numbers in terms of delegates who elect the eventual flagbearer. With the imminent departure of President Akufo-Addo as leader of the party in 2025 and the existential struggle for power that characterize such transitions, party unity and cohesion before, during and after the process was destined to be a challenge.
Alan Kyerematen, the losing contender to Akufo-Addo in 2007 even then, quit due to concerns about mistreatment of his supporters and related matters. During that period, celebrated leader of the NPP, BJ Da Rocha described Mr. Kyerematen as a ‘disruptive factor in the party, a stumbling block and loose cannon” and urged that “the party has an election to win” so they needed to concentrate their efforts on the task ahead then, and “let him go his way in peace.” Nevertheless, he was re-admitted to the party later.
Another Alan Albatross?
It’s 2023 and yet in a circumstance analogous to a deja-vu, the NPP is confronted once again with an Alan Kyerematen resignation precipitated on the claim of an unfair electoral process in the first round of voting to elect Akufo-Addo’s successor. Unlike 2007 however, from all indications, Alan Kyerematen will not return to the fold of the party. He is hellbent on fulfilling his long-time ambition of being president through an independent bid.
The NPP knows this, that’s why a day after his resignation, they expressed disappointment in his move and strongly rejected his allegations. At a press briefing, General Secretary, Justin Frimpong Kodua said “The leadership of the party equally disagrees with assertions made by Mr. Kyerematen in page eight (8) of his resignation address that the party has been hijacked by a selected group of party leaders and elders, and government appointees behind the curtain power brokers”. He continued “Guided by facts and data, the leadership of the party disagrees entirely with this assertion.”
Historically, the selection of flagbearers for political parties in Ghana had been the preserve of a privileged few until the New Patriotic Party took the bold decision to decentralize the process by expanding its electoral college to enfranchise some One Hundred and Six Thousand, Five-Hundred and Ninety (106,590) delegates in 2010.
Currently, about Two Hundred Thousand (200,000) delegates would be voting to select the party’s next flagbearer relative to the estimated One Thousand Nine Hundred and Ninety-Eight delegates (1,998) who did same in 1992. Clearly, the quantum leap to Two Hundred Thousand (200,000) delegates in 2023 underscores the decentralization of power to all Party stakeholders and defeats the assertion that the Party has been hijacked by a privileged few.
The party is not oblivious of the threat Alan poses in their stronghold which is Ashanti Region. Director of Elections and Research of the party, Evans Nimako told me in an interview that “the party shall devise appropriate strategies to keep its base in Ashanti intact.”
Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe expresses an even deeper concern. He says “My only worry is that it’s going to deepen the ethnocentric sort of feeling that the people have about our party, the NPP.”
President Kufuor’s trusted Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Mpiani, viewed by many as an Alan confidante, also affirms that the move is unfortunate and could affect the party “I think it’s unfortunate for the party that a stalwart like Alan will decide to leave the party at this time, getting very close to general elections. It’s unfortunate, but it happens. Unfortunately, I wasn’t consulted, but I got to know about it before he came out with his press conference.”
Crossing the 2024 Rubicon
It was intriguing that the moment Alan quit, there was a conscious effort by many, especially the young members with MP aspirations and beyond, to distance themselves from him. As the hashtag #WeAreNPP gained traction on social media, it was obvious that the party was keen to show a united front, to say to the world that their front cannot be broken.
The party seems strengthened by the refusal of high-profile former ‘Alanites’ like MPs Abena Osei Asare and Davis Opoku Ansah to follow Mr Kyerematen out of the party. They have said that they will remain united to break the proverbial eight.
History is on the NPP’s side as far as the impact on the strength of the party could be with the Alan departure. Breakaway factions haven’t done well outside their fold in national elections. Dr Wereko Brobbey left the party and formed the United Ghana Movement in the run up to the 2000 election. He managed to garner only 0.34 percent of the votes at the national level.
In 2008, a group of disgruntled NPP activists in Ashanti broke away to form the Reformed Patriotic Democrats to contest the general election. It’s leader, Kwabena Adjei could attract only 0.08% of the votes.
Alan is contesting as an independent candidate but the UGM and RPD were political parties in and of themselves. The NPP still believes Alan will suffer the fate these parties suffered at the national level.
With a governance record tainted by the woes of an ailing economy, a growing number of unemployed youth and a seeming broken front with the exit of Alan, breaking the eight seems like a daunting challenge.
However, based on how the General Secretary of the party wrapped up their press conference this week, they believe that “We are NPP and the elephant is our winning symbol,” echoing the hope that the Ghanaian electorate will back them for a third consecutive term at the helm of affairs.
The response has been that of defiance from the NPP, but would this bite long term where it hurts most? Dr. Nyaho-Tamaklo thinks so and his point worth re-iterating is that “My only worry is that it’s going to deepen the ethnocentric sort of feeling that the people have about our party, the NPP.”
By Duke Mensah Opoku