Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has likened the bitter rivalry in the ongoing NPP Presidential Campaign to his own situation nearly 30 years ago, after he lost his first shot at the Presidency.

In the 1996 Presidential election, Kufuor contested for the first time as the NPP's Flagbearer, but he lost to President Rawlings, securing 39% of the votes – a situation which he said led to some members of the party calling for him not to be presented again as the party's candidate.

In an exclusive interview with the Delay Show, the former President said the plot against him was so thick that some members of the party went to the extent of spreading wild propaganda against him, including falsely accusing him of diverting campaign funds into his private accounts in the US – all in a bid not to get him to be presented again.

"When they declared I had 39% and I think that was exceptional," Kufuor said of his first attempt at the Presidency in 1996.

"Rawlings won but for the next election he was not allowed to run and he had to step down. Even before that, some people in my party wanted to see the back of me."

"So they came up with all sorts of propaganda against me. One of it, they said I embarked on a tour of America and party supporters gave me $100,000 which they alleged that I had put in my private account but it was a big lie."

President Kufuor added that the allegation was so serious that a committee was set up to investigate it.

I didn't understand Akufo-Addo's leadership – Former President Kufuor

"Even the then Chairman of the party, Peter Ala Adjetey, set up a committee under Mr. A. K. Deku, one of our elders, to investigate me. Those who made these serious allegations against me – one has died and one is alive – could not provide any evidence when they were called to substantiate their claim."

"Some members of the party had their own schemes against me, similar to the kind of rivalries you see in the contest now."

"I was free when the committee could not find anything against me and the party subsequently met in Sunyani in 1998 to pick a candidate."

Following his renomination by the party in 1998 as its Flagbearer for the second time, Kufuor went on to win the next election in the year 2000 and won again in 2004 to complete his second term in office.

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