Chairman of the NPP Council of Elders, Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, has opened up about Alan Kyerematen’s departure from the party and the possibility of his return.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express, the former New Juaben North MP said those who repeatedly resign and return cause disruption and should face strict conditions.
“There are a few of them, without mentioning names, who resigned, then came back, then resigned, then came back. It’s not a child’s game, so what the general secretary is saying makes a bit of sense.
“He’s saying that if you come, then some undertakings might be taken. You don’t come and disturb us. If you’ve gone, then if you want to stay where you are, stay, but if you come back, then we should have preconditions for you to do that thing.
“So I believe that, but I think that in the past, we have been too liberal, lenient with people who have done that and eventually disturbed our forward march to better organisation and things like that,” he said.
The former Foreign Minister recalled how Alan’s earlier resignation drew a sharp reaction from the late B.J. Da Rocha.
“I remember that Da Rocha, whom we all revere, when Alan resigned the first time, he said good riddance, and he was the party chairman at that time. So I really don’t know; when it comes, it will be discussed.
“And I believe that sometimes you begin to wonder whether, and I’m being very frank with you in this interview, you begin to wonder whether it was deliberately meant to scuttle our front and make us lose.
“And sometimes I wonder because there was absolutely no need… if you have a nationwide election and one person gets into a physical fight, and then he says, because of that, I’m resigning. Well, if you want to form your own political party, have the courage to say, ‘I am forming my political party.’ Don’t link that to the fact that the party was not able to protect you,” he stressed.
Asked how Alan’s exit affected the party in the 2024 election, Mr Owusu-Agyeman said the impact was real.
“Well, even one vote is important, and he took a few thousand votes, especially from the Ashanti Region… Not only that, but they had the boys go on television and say all manner of things, insults and what have you, and people were always saying, ‘Oh, they were with them once upon a time, so what they are saying is true,’ and it wasn’t helpful to us,” he explained.
Mr. Hackman Owusu-Agyeman made it clear that he would not support such a situation again.
“So if you want to come, you join a party, and you have to behave yourself. And I don’t think that in future, we shall, well, I will not cast my vote for such a situation at all. In future, if you create problems for us, you go, I mean, we can go on, life goes on,” he said.
He added that politics must not be reduced to a revolving door for disgruntled figures.
“Politics is quite interesting, and these are the sort of things that we shouldn’t be encouraging at all. In the UK right now, some people from the Conservatives are going to Reform. But if you go, stay there; stay there with your problem; don’t come and do that again,” he advised.
While cautioning against leaders who abandon the party, Mr. Owusu-Agyeman left the door open for younger followers who broke away.
“Those ones, they were the leaders who created a problem, and the young mass followers should come back. They should come back because they know that they are not going to go anywhere,” he concluded.
Source: Abubakar Ibrahim
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