Alan did no wrong with 'no campaign message' statement - NPP MP hits back at Palgrave

Member of Parliament for Bortianor-Ngleshie has defended New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate Alan Kyerematen following the backlash over his warning that the party would not have a message for Ghanaians in the 2024 elections if the current economic hardship persists.

According to Sylvester Matthew Tetteh, persons attacking Alan, including the government's spokesperson on governance and security, Palgrave Boakye Danquah, are failing to appreciate the import of Alan's warnings.

The MP, who made these remarks in a Good Morning Ghana interview monitored by GhanaWeb, on Tuesday, said that the country is currently in a very bad place which has been acknowledged by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo himself.

He added that Alan's point is that the NPP has to reverse the current hardships and also have a credible messenger for the 2024 elections to stand a chance of winning the elections.

“Palgrave didn’t have the full information. He spoke about it (Alan’s remarks) taking a swipe at Alan Kyerematen and I think that is unfortunate. Because I wish that he could have even listened to the video.

“Alan said Nana Addo has done very well and he enumerated a number of things we have done including the Planting for Food and Jobs; One District, One Factory; Free SHS and everything that we have done… but where we are today, the significant thing is that the President of the Republic himself had admitted that we are in crisis,” he said.

“Alan said that if we should go into the election in this situation, crafting a message for an election will be very difficult but even that who your messenger is equally important,” he added.

Background

Palgrave Boakye Danquah slammed New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential hopeful Alan Kyerematen for saying that the party might have a message for the 2024 elections because of the prevailing economic conditions in Ghana.

Alan Kyerematen, according to classfmonline.com, said that the worsening economic condition under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is making it difficult for the NPP to craft a message for the 2024 election.

Speaking to the Sefwi Wiawso Traditional Council, during his recent campaign tour, Alan said that although the Akufo-Addo government has achieved some milestones, the current messed-up economy is dwarfing that success to the extent that the party cannot even come up with a credible message to sell to the electorate.

Mr Kyerematen pointed out, for instance, that the Akufo-Addo government introduced the Free SHS; Planting for Food and Jobs; One District, One Factory and a lot more programmes but contrasted: “As we are all aware, the economy is currently not doing well; things are not well at all”.

Reacting to this in an interview on Adom FM interview monitored by GhanaWeb, Boakye Danquah said that the comments made by Alan are unfortunate and an indictment of the tremendous achievement of the Nana Akufo-Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government.

He added that Alan, a former minister of trade and industry, should keep mute if he has no message for the people of Ghana.

Watch the interview below:



You can also watch this edition of People & Places on GhanaWeb TV:



IB/BOG