Alan's last card to play

The future looks bleak for Alan Kyerematen’s hopes of becoming a President and especially so as a member of the NPP. Among other things, there has been hard feelings that he tried to deal with this past weekend. The way I see it, if Akufo Addo wins in 2016, Alan has at least an 8 year wait unless some unfortunate event removes Nana Addo from office or from contention in 2020. Akufo Addo cannot have Bawumia or someone else as a Vice President or Vice Presidential running mate and turn around and endorse Alan. So if Akufo Addo wins the next two presidential elections, then Alan has to compete with a sitting Vice President for the nomination: a tall hill to climb indeed.

If on the other hand Akufo Addo does not win, then Alan will likely run against Nana Addo endorsed candidate because Nana Addo cannot turn around and endorse Alan rather than his running mate of 2016. Nana by his record just may himself be the person to beat if he doesn’t win in 2016, and Alan so far has not shown that he can beat him, nor his machine.

I see one of three paths for Alan to take if he wants to be President of Ghana. One will be for him to leave NPP and join NDC. Overlooking the backlash from Nana Addo loyalists, it may be the easier path for him. The most probable path however will be to elbow his way into the Vice Presidential running mate spot and I will explain how in a minute. The third path will be to just plain revolt and run as an independent candidate. A three way split may just offer him a chance to squeak through and become the President if he is more articulate than he has been so far; come up with solid ideas that people will see as something they can hang their hats on; and be able to sell the ideas very well. Alan didn’t come up with ideas that would have made NPP take a second look at him. I don’t see how he will do it at this time, so even though it is not impossible to do, I believe it will be hard for him to do it.

The easiest path for Alan’s future as a possible Ghana President as I said is to elbow his way into the running mate spot now. The way he does this is to have a press conference and plant someone among the reporters who will ask him if he will run as an independent. He will answer saying that he still has contribution to make to the country and whether it is going to be at the presidential level or not is up in the air. He will say he has thinking to do and decisions to make. He will take time to make a deliberate decision and at this time, he is not ruling anything out.

If something like this does not send chills up Nana Addo’s spine, I will show an over-confident man who leaves his aspirations to chance. With the country split almost 50-50, Akofo Addo cannot chance losing even one percent of NPP vote. He will at the very least want to seek clarification from Mr. Kyerematen. Mr. Kyerematen would then let Nana know that he, Alan, Believes he has contributions to make to the country and he is going to think seriously about how to proceed and that he is open to any suggestions that Nana may have. Nana may, if he is a wise man, promise some government position to Alan if he wins. Alan can then make it clear that it’s the running mate spot or an independent candidacy.

I whole heartedly admit that this is a gamble that may not work, but at this time, I don’t see much else for Alan. He can fold up and give it all up or he can settle for whatever Nana Akufo Addo may throw his way if he wins, or he can take the gamble. If Alan does a real tangible and honest assessment, he may see how bleak things look for him at this time. I wish him luck.

Tony Pobee-Mensah

tpmensahr@yahoo.com