Former New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer hopeful Alan Kyerematen did not hold back while announcing his decision to leave the party and contest in the 2024 election as an independent candidate.
Alan said that one of the reasons he took the decision to leave the NPP was because he had come to the realisation that the party does not appreciate his contribution to it because of recent events like what happened in 2008.
He said that the party has now been hijacked by certain elements who have thrown away its core values.
“I joined the New Patriotic Party at the very beginning of its establishment as a Founding Member, believing in its core values and the long-standing traditions of its antecedents, predicated on fairness, equity, probity, accountability, and transparency. I have devoted the best part of my professional career to serving the Party, and I still believe in the vision of the founding fathers of the Party.
“However, 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,” he said.
Alan also said that happenings in the NPP’s Special Delegates Conference made it clear that the party has lost its values.
“In the run-up to the Super Delegates Conference, the National Council of the Party made some of the most controversial and contentious decisions in the history of the Party. They rejected a petition signed by nine out of the ten aspirants, requesting for the Super Delegates Conference to be held in one location, as well as allowing each Delegate to the Conference to nominate five persons, instead of one, in line with the provisions in the Party’s Constitution.”
He added that the party’s failure to take action against the intimidation and monetization that characterized the conference made it clear that the presidential primaries was “strategically and tactically skewed in favour of one particular aspirant”.
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 Kyeremateng, 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.
