Your desperate, awkward attempt to create a false impression laughable – Dr Gideon Boako shades Alan

NPP to decide on new flagbearer

Friction grows between Alan and Bawumia camps ahead of 2024 election

Dr Gideon Boako, Economic Advisor and Spokesperson to Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has taken a swipe at serial flagbearer contender of the New Patriotic Party, John Alan Kojo Kyerematen.

While the vice president has emerged as a top contender for the upcoming flagbearership contest of the ruling party, some arguments have been raised in favour of Alan Kyerematen, the Minister for Trade and Industry in the current government.

According to such arguments, there was a gentleman’s agreement between President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Mr Kyeremanten after the latter in 2007 conceded to the president after the first round of voting, to allow him to contest the general election as flagbearer of the party.

In a Facebook post that seems to have offended the camp of Alan Kyerematen, the vice president’s spokesperson has given a background to what many believe is the agreement in which President Akufo-Addo promised that the now trade minister would come after him as flagbearer of the NPP.

“So I go into a contest with you. I get more votes than you but not sufficient enough to secure me the required 50% plus 1. You came next to me and instead of a second round contest you concede to me. That’s nice. I acknowledge you in my acceptance speech and in order to ensure greater unity I indicate that you will come after me. Few months later, you decided to abandon me and the team to fight our own fight on a flimsy excuse. Fair enough, you rescind your decision and join us. We heartily accept you back. I go into the main contest but unfortunately lost,” he stated.

Dr Boako further explained that Mr Kyerematen, after President Akufo-Addo failed to win the 2008 presidential election, also failed to hold to his end of the bargain and thus went ahead to contest the president on multiple occasions for the flagbearership.

“Instead of keeping to the commitment of conceding to me to go again so you can come after, you contested me. I lost and decided to go again and there again you did not concede to me but contested me,” he explained.

In the view of the Economic Advisor to the Vice President, Kyerematen’s decision to contest Nana Addo despite his earlier commitment invariable nullified any assurance given him by the president on his future as flagbearer of the NPP.

“Once you do this, you have withdrawn the commitment you made to me. Should the assurance I gave you still hold even after you subsequently withdrew your commitment to me on two separate occasions? Once you withdrew your commitment the consequential assurance from me also stands withdrawn,” he noted.

At the back of his analogy, Dr Gideon Boako has laughed off what he described as a desperate and awkward attempt by Mr Alan Kojo Kyerematen to create a false impression about the assurance given him by President Akufo-Addo in 2007.

“With this, any desperate and awkward attempt to create a false impression that an assurance for which tenets you have grossly violated still holds can only be laughable,” he said.

Already, there has been incidents of friction between the camps of Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia and Mr Alan Kojo Kyeremanten, who are both tipped as frontrunners to succeed President Akufo-Addo, who is in his last term of office as flagbearer of the NPP.