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Opinions of Monday, 29 May 2023

Columnist: E. G. Buckman

RE: Alan Kyerematen backtracks and falls on his own sword – campaign at) nsuomu! (Part 1)

Former Trade and Industry minister, Alan Kyerematen Former Trade and Industry minister, Alan Kyerematen

When you see a man using his teeth in a fight, it means he has found himself in a fight bigger than his strength. It has now become abundantly clear that they underestimated the kind of “fight” they were stepping into. They mistakenly thought incumbency is everything. They thought the power in the party belonged to the few who had been enjoying some bellyfuls at the top.

Indeed, when the fundamentals of your campaign are weak, your messages to the delegates would expose you. Until recently, the guys in Bawumia camp were thinking highly of themselves due to the so-called declarations by some MPs and government appointees. They had been making noise as though they were having some special arrows in their quiver for the battle ahead.

However, the reality caught up with them when they went down to the grassroots to engage with the polling station executives of the party. The overall feedback they had from across the country was terrible. That is why they have now increased their media budget to intensify their media hype campaign. It is now so clear that apart from the money they have been splashing about, which the delegates are determined to chop, they have nothing more to offer the delegates.

Sadly, they couldn’t even offer a message of hope to their own party people, yet they want the party to give their preferred candidate the opportunity to face Ghanaians with his uninspiring messages.

At this time, when Dr. Bawumia, the supposed economic messiah, is needed to inspire hope and confidence in respect of the economy, to let Ghanaians know how he has fared as the head of the Economic Management Team, he is still talking about dumsor and nkof3m flying to Burkina Faso, knowing very well that guinea fowls aren’t migrating birds.

Someone should kindly tell our vice president that Ghanaians won’t buy such messages again. The 2024 election is not going to be a jabs-throwing kind of election. At this crucial time, Ghanaians need someone who has the vision and plans to turn the economic situation of the country around. They need a message of hope.

So far, all their messages, either coming from Dr. Bawumia himself or his cohorts to the unsuspecting Ghanaians and delegates of our party, have been nothing but substandard messages packed with falsehoods and deceptions. For instance, why did Dr. Bawumia have to tell delegates he joined the party in the year 2000 when he knows that’s not true?

Besides, why did Hon. Annoh-Dompreh have to tell Ghanaians Alan was the one in charge of the management of the economy when that’s not true? Why did Gideon Boako have to boldly tell Ghanaians mobile money interoperability is a brainchild of Dr. Bawumia when that’s not true?

And, why did Hon. Okyere Baafi also have to tell the women delegates and Ghanaians that the Nigerian and Senegalese presidents are Christians when that’s palpable falsehood? Clearly, they don’t have any convincing message for the delegates.

Lately, some of them have become so full of falsehoods and deceptions to the point that they are not able to post or publish articles with their real identities anymore. In actual fact, some of their recent articles are even published anonymously.

It is in response to one of such shambolic articles that this piece is written. In the caption of the said article, as recaptured above, the nameless writer used a verb (backtracks) and an idiomatic expression (falls on his sword) he or she doesn’t even seem to understand. Surprisingly, there is nothing in the article that reflects the verb or idiom used.

A person is said to have backtracked on a statement or decision he made in the past when he does or says something that shows he no longer agrees with what he or she said or did in the past. So, in respect of the word backtrack, what has Mr. Alan Kyeremten presently done or said to suggest that he has changed his mind or position on something he did or said in the past?

According to the nameless coward, he has been hearing Alan’s campaign team using the “Aduru Wo So” mantra, which is at variance with something Alan is purported to have said to the party’s delegates in the run-up to the 2010 NPP flagbearer race. He quoted Alan as saying “NPP flagbearer race is not a queue. We want a president!”.

But let me ask o, has Mr. Alan Kyerematen himself, in the course of his campaign, said the NPP flagbearer race is now a queue? Has he said anything like that to any delegate in the party lately? The answer is a big no! So, wherein lies the backtracking? What has Mr. Alan Kyerematen backtracked on, coward author?

Mr. Alan Kyerematen, since he started going round to meet party executives, the clergy and Chiefs, has consistently been selling his message of hope and transformation for the party and the country. He has never said anywhere that he should be voted for because it is his turn.

You see, unlike Dr. Bawumia, who is not able to come out with any vision or plan relative to the future of our party and the economy because of where he finds himself, Mr. Alan Kyerematen, through his GTP and party modernization messages, has demonstrated to the party and Ghanaians in general that he is ready to lead differently when given the opportunity.

In actual fact, the “Aduru Wo So” mantra, which has become a vibrating political force, emanated directly from the grassroots of the party. Alan himself had nothing to do with the coinage of the mantra, and it would be politically unwise on his part to stop people from saying it. He owes no apology to those who have been having nightmares as a result of the mantra. One thing I can say is that the “Aduru Wo So” force is growing and vibrating bigger and bigger, and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it.

Watch out for Part 2:

Shalom shalom!