The spokesperson for Alan Kyerematen’s campaign, Yaw Buaben Asamoa, who is also a former Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has alleged that Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia is using state resources and officials to influence delegates to vote for him as the party’s flagbearer.
He said this was one of the factors that influenced the results of a recent survey by Global InfoAnalytics and Citi TV/Citi FM among NPP delegates, which showed that Dr Bawumia was ahead of Mr Kyerematen, who is a former Trade and Industry Minister, and Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, an MP for Assin Central, in the race to lead the NPP in 2024.
The survey indicated that Dr Bawumia had 34.8% of the votes, followed by Mr Kyerematen with 27.9% and Mr Agyapong with 12.5%. The other candidates had less than 1% of the votes, while 8.9% did not disclose their preference and 15.10% were undecided.
However, in a possible run-off, Mr Kyerematen would beat Dr Bawumia by 38% to 37% of the votes, according to the survey. 16% of the delegates were undecided and 9% did not reveal their choice in that scenario.
Mr Asamoa made these claims in an interview on Eyewitness News on Citi FM in Accra on Thursday.
He said: “The Vice President is not sitting idle. He has state appointees going around offering incentives. Some are being intimidated to support him. Some are being promised all kinds of things.”
He added: “There are groups of state officials and party leaders going around the country working for him regularly and constantly. So it is not about him personally, he is campaigning vigorously with state resources and officials moving around the country trying to get delegates to back him as a candidate.”
He noted that some delegates felt compelled to side with the Vice President because of the grassroots campaigning done for him.
He said: “This is part of what you see in the survey. The delegates feel that if they are asked, it will be safer for them to say it that way rather than the other way. So there are things happening on the ground.”
Meanwhile, Dr Bawumia will submit his nomination forms to contest the NPP Presidential Primaries in Accra today, Friday, June 16, 2023.
Mr Asamoa expressed confidence that Mr Kyerematen would win the primaries and become Ghana’s next president.
He said: “I am confident that Alan will win this primary and go on to lead Ghanaians. Delegates are aware of the sentiments in the country and know who they want to lead them. We know what is happening on the ground, he is doing very well.”
He also said that the survey was helpful and informative.
