CHOOSE CANDIDATE WHO CAN ATTRACT VOTES FROM ALL SECTORS (PAGE 13, JUNE 7, 2010)

AN aspiring flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Alan Kyerematen, has advised polling station executives of the party to choose a candidate who has the capabilities to attract votes from all sectors of the political divide.
This, he said, was because the general elections in the year 2012 was not going to be an NPP affair but rather a nation-wide exercise which the NPP could not afford to toy with.
“It is, therefore, very important that the NPP presents a winning and an appealing candidate cast in the mould of Alan Kyerematen to wrest power from the NDC, come the 2012 general election” he stated.
Mr Kyerematen said this when he interacted with polling station executives of the NPP in Wa in the Upper West Region.
The meeting was part of his campaign tour of the region to seek the support of members of the party who would vote at the national congress of the party.
Describing himself as a true unifier, Mr Kyerematen said “I am the only candidate who could do this for the NPP and so you have to change the way we did things in the year 2008 and give me the nod to win power from the ruling NDC”.
He told the polling station executives that he was touring all the 230 constituencies to interact with them because of his love for the party, adding that personal sacrifice must be the hallmark of a true leader.
“Amongst all the candidates you must look out for a young, charismatic and energetic leader like Alan Kyerematen who could do the job,” he said.
On the role of the polling station executives, Mr Kyerematen said instead of forming a campaign team, he would rather empower polling station executives of the party to spearhead the party’s campaign in the 2012 elections if he won the primaries.
He said he would also set up a welfare fund to be used to support the interest and needs of polling station executives.
A member of Mr Kyerematen’s team, Mr Kwabena Agyepong, in his introductory remarks explained that going for primaries to choose a presidential candidate was a tradition of the NPP and therefore the assertion that the slot should automatically go to a particular candidate must not be allowed to happen.
He said Mr Kyerematen is a true blue member of the Dankwa Busia tradition where the NPP traced its roots and therefore the impression being created that he joined the NPP quite recently was wrong.