No individual or group has hijacked NPP – Frimpong Kodua tells Alan

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has refuted claims that the party has been hijacked by a selected group of elders and government appointees.

In a press conference, the General Secretary of the party, Justin Frimpong Kodua said such claims are unfounded.

“The leadership of the party equally disagrees with assertions made by Mr Kyerematen on page eight of his resignation address that the party has been hijacked by a selected group of party leaders and elders, and government appointees behind the curtain power brokers’’.

“Guided by facts and data, the leadership of the party disagrees entirely with this assertion,” he said.

The former, Alan Kyerematen at a press conference announcing his resignation from the NPP, alleged that the party had been hijacked by selected groups, elders and government appointees.

According to him, the current NPP has very little resemblance to the party that he joined in 1992 and helped to nurture.

But setting the record straight, the party’s General Secretary said: “Historically, the selection of flagbearers for political parties in Ghana had been the preserve of a privileged few until the New Patriotic Party took the bold decision to decentralize the process by expanding its electoral college to enfranchise some 106,590delegates in 2010.”

He noted that “currently, about 200,000 delegates would be voting to select the party’s next flagbearer relative to the estimated 1,998 who did the same in 1992.”

“Clearly, the quantum leap to 200,000 delegates in 2023 underscores the decentralization of power to all party stakeholders and defeats the assertion that the party has been hijacked by a privileged few,” he added.

Also responding to concerns of intimidation against Mr Kyerematen’s supporters, the NPP General Secretary said “It is noteworthy that certain government appointees, including cabinet ministers, who openly declared their support for him are still at post and have never been intimidated.”

This is not the first time Alan is quitting the party. After the 2007 presidential primaries where he contested against Akufo-Addo, he raised issues with the process and went ahead to resign.

However, after the party promised to address his concerns, he returned to the NPP, only to resign again and this time around decide to contest the national election as an independent candidate.