Abraham Boadi, former Presiding Member of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, a strong New Patriotic Party (NPP) activist and also a key force yearning for Alan Kyerematen to lead the party to victory in the next general election, has expressed his team’s reluctance to follow the party’s directive to pull down campaign posts of any flagbearer candidate.
He indicated that, Alan Kyerematen’s team after the directive was issued, were willing to conform to the party’s orders to promote continuity of the agenda setup by the party.
However, they felt betrayed when other candidates disobeyed the directives, and went ahead to mount billboards at vantage points in Kumasi two-weeks ahead of the scheduled general party conference.
The former KMA boss then revealed in order to prevent being at a disadvantage, the team were propelled to also mount just three campaign posts and would only be removed when others commit to the directives.
“As at today, I can only confirm Justin Kodua and Odeneho Kwaku Appiah have started pulling down their campaign posts, after the party issued another directive that we should pull down all campaign posts. Apart from them, we’ve not seen any sign of others willing to pull theirs down. We from the Alan team are very ready to pull ours down. However, until we see the candidates who mounted theirs two weeks ahead of the conference pull their billboards down, including the Vice President Dr.Bawumia and Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the Agric Minister. They lead the charge and started campaigning with billboards and posts even when we were banned from doing these. They decided to go contrary to the directives because they have great influence with their positions in government. They mounted over 10 billboards and we decided to put up just three. If they don’t follow the orders, we see no need for us to pull down ours which can take just few minutes,” he lamented to Don Kwabena Prah on Happy98.9 FM’s Epa Hoa Daben socio-political show.
He further revealed that Alan Kyerematen’s side were only triggered when they witnessed in plain sight other people with candidates’ souvenirs in attempt to campaign for their candidates. “After we were all told not to campaign, our Alan Kyerematen called us not to put up any post in his name or even wear his souvenirs because he is a true member of the NPP party and respects the party’s rules. We all wore our traditional clothes not until when our Vice President was coming. He was accompanied with his people in campaign t-shirts and banners. Surprisingly, John Boadu and our youth organizer were all present and this angered our people and we started our chants. They started begging us because they knew we are the majority group.”
He reiterated that the various party leaders who also wield top governmental positions are also under the rules of the party and should adhere accordingly to ensure serenity among its members.