Yaw Buaben Asamoa, former Director of Communications for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and campaign spokesperson for Alan Kyerematen, claims Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia is using government resources and staff to persuade delegates to support him as a candidate.
That, he said, contributed to the findings of a survey conducted among NPP delegates by Global InfoAnalytics and Citi TV/Citi FM, which revealed that Dr Bawumia leads former Trade and Industry Minister Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen and Assin Central MP Kennedy Ohene Agyapong in the race to lead the NPP into the 2024 general elections.
Dr Bawumia leads the poll with 34.8% of the vote, followed by Kyerematen with 27.9% and Kennedy Agyapong with 12.5%. The remaining candidates received less than 1% of the vote, while 8.9% declined to say who they would vote for and 15.10% were undecided.
However, in a run-off, Alan Kyerematen leads Dr Mahamudu Bawumia 38% to 37% in the poll. 16% of the delegates were unsure, while 9% refused to say who they would vote for in a run-off.
On Thursday, Mr Asamoah was interviewed on Eyewitness News on Citi FM in Accra.
“Anybody telling you the Vice President is not campaigning is not telling you as it is. He has government appointees going round offering incentives. They are those who are being threatened to follow through. There are those who are being promised all manner of things.”
“There are teams of government appointees and party leaders going round the country working on his behalf regularly and constantly. So it is not about he himself, he is campaigning seriously with government resources and personnel moving around the country trying to get delegates to accept him as a candidate,” he stated.
Mr Buaben stated that participants felt obligated to support the Vice President because of the grassroots advocacy on his behalf.
“All this is part of the impacts that you see in the polling. The people feel that if I am asked, it will be safer for me to say it that way rather than say it the other way. So there are things happening on the ground,” he added.
Meanwhile, today, Friday, June 16, 2023, Dr Bawumia will file his nomination papers to run in the NPP Presidential Primaries in Accra.
Mr Buaben expressed confidence that Mr Kyerematen will win the primaries and go on to become Ghana’s next president.
“I am confident that Alan will win this primary and cross on to lead Ghanaians. Delegates are aware about sentiments in the country and know who they want to lead them. We know what is happening on the ground, he is doing appreciably well,” he added.
Furthermore, Mr Asamoa stated that the survey was beneficial and informative.
