According to Dr. Baah, Akufo-Addo cannot be absolved of responsibility for the NPP’s defeat in the 2024 general election.

He claimed that although the truth is widely known within the party, many members are afraid to speak up.

“They are still afraid to speak up. They want to talk about the president, but they are not able to because he is the one who caused the whole defeat. It should be put on his head. He is the person behind this whole thing. He became very unpopular. He became arrogant, you know, and did whatever he wanted — even threatened his own party members, the MPs. Some of them, he actually campaigned against. How does that happen? If I were the chairman, I would have thrown him out of the party,” he said.

Dr. Baah also criticized NPP Chairman, Stephen Ayesu Ntim, for allowing Akufo-Addo to act unchecked, alleging that the former president even went as far as threatening Members of Parliament.

Speaking in an interview on Accra-based TV3, the former head of the Political Science Department at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) alleged that Akufo-Addo still seeks to control the party, despite the defeat.

“No president should be given the power to do such a thing — to campaign against your own party members. Does the party belong to him? But of course, he held all the cards, so he thought he could do whatever he wanted, and this is what brought us to this point.

He hijacked the whole party. After bringing us to this disastrous end, he should have kept quiet, walked away into the sunset, and sat somewhere quietly. But he still wants to control the party,” Dr. Baah fumed.

He further vowed that any attempts by Akufo-Addo to influence the NPP’s future will be fiercely resisted.

“We are not going to agree to that. The party is not his. He still wants to have a say in who becomes the next president. Even when the results came out, Info Analytics made it clear. That alone should have told him to be quiet and leave the party alone.

If you want your party to do well, this is an indication that you have become very unpopular and should step aside. But no, they still want to control everything. It doesn’t work that way. If you were popular, it wouldn’t work that way — and now that you are colossally a failure, we will not agree,” he added.

Dr. Baah also pointed to Akufo-Addo’s refusal to reshuffle his appointees despite public outcry as one of the major factors that contributed to the NPP’s humiliating defeat at the polls.

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This comes amidst his preparation to launch his latest book, “The President Ghana Never Got,” on Thursday, August 8.

Mr Awuni recounted the numerous challenges he faced, including threats to his life and the need for police protection.

“I’ve personally encountered a lot of woes. If you look at the ‘fictional Agyapadie’ document, you’ll find my name in that document. I have not had it easy in this administration.

“I had to go to South Africa in 2019. In 2020, I had to go to Germany. All these because of death threats,” he revealed.

Making more revelations on JoyNews’ AM Show on Wednesday, Mr Awuni said between 2019 to 2021, he had to drive with police protection due to the severity of the threats.

According to him, the intense pressure also took a toll on his mental health, leading him to seek therapy from a clinical psychologist.

Mr Awuni further noted that his book delves into his efforts to interact with President Akufo-Addo about his predicament.

“Sometimes you find people asking, ‘Does the President even know what is happening behind the scenes?’ I had a personal experience where I had to take a step to let people within the Presidency know.

“At a point when I felt that the message might not be getting to the President, I booked an appointment with his wife,” he recounted.

According to him, Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo was surprised that he was using her as a conduit, given his direct access to the President through other channels.

“I replied, ‘Well, it is true, but for ABC reasons, I should let you know.’ So these are some of the things that have happened within the period that the average person may not know how these interactions happened and whether or not the highest official of our country is privy to some of the things that happened,” he explained.

“The President Ghana Never Got” is a 400-paged and 40-chaptered book on the reign of President Akufo-Addo.

Announcing the launch of the book, the journalist said it has “revealing and riveting content, which some may find explosive”.

It would be launched on August 8, 2024, at the Christ the King Parish Hall, Opposite Jubilee House.

This book is his latest project on successive governments. In 2016, when the country’s former President, John Dramani Mahama was preparing to leave office, Manasseh released a book on him titled “The Fourth John: Reign, Rejection & Rebound”.

Similarly, the “The President Ghana Never Got” book promises to be a compelling read, offering nuances that influenced certain decisions of the current administration.

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During his penultimate State of the Nation Address delivered in Parliament on Tuesday, February 27on Tuesday, February 27, the President stressed the importance of this acknowledgement in reinvigorating the Ghanaian spirit of resilience and determination to strive for a better future.

Despite past difficulties, President Akufo-Addo expressed optimism about Ghana’s current trajectory towards recovery.

He urged citizens to maintain confidence in the government and to support its policies aimed at alleviating the hardships experienced by all.

“Mr. Speaker, we stumbled, but we are rising again. We were bruised, but we are healing. We have recovered our footing. We have dusted ourselves off, and now we face tomorrow with confidence.

“Every day we pray and hope that adversity may spare our families, our communities and our dear nation.”

“But should we be confronted by misfortune; we must face it like people with a proud history who fight and do not flee. Yenim ko; yen nim adwane. That is the Ghanaian spirit. That is our armour and our shield. This is our ethos,” he said.

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Commenting on the resignation of the former Trade and Industry Minister, Alan Kyerematen from the NPP on PM Express on Joy News, the party stalwart did not mince words when he said the party’s problems began the day its former National Chairman and General Secretary, Paul Afoko and Kwabena Agyapong, were unfairly removed from their roles.

According to the one-time Member of Parliament for Mampong South in the Ashanti Region in the 3rd Republic from 1979 to 1981, “once they [Paul Afoko and Kwabena Agyapong] were removed, the candidate [Akufo-Addo] had his way, and this has continued up to this time” he argued.

In announcing his resignation and subsequent decision to contest as an independent presidential candidate for the 2024 elections, Mr Alan Kyerematen claimed that the party has been hijacked by a select few, who intimidate others who do not agree with them.

Asked whether he agrees with Alan Kyerematen’s claim that a select few have hijacked the party, the 83-year old responded in the affirmative.

“Well, to some extent yes. You know, I think the party’s problems deepened the very day the party decided to sack its Chairman [Paul Afoko] and General Secretary [Kwabena Agyapong], which I believe was unconstitutional under our own party rules, but then the party did it.”

“Unfortunately, some members, including members of the group to which I belong, take pride in this by saying that they were able to remove these people. As soon as the party removed these people, they gave the party to one man who was the candidate at that time, and who is the President at this time, and this is the problem we have in the party which we are not confronting. And if we don’t confront this problem, we are going to have more problems within the party.”

According to the octogenarian, after the election of the former Chairman and General Secretary at the time, he took part in meetings to resolve the issues that emerged, but there was no headway, only for them to be removed from office.

When he was specifically asked whether he meant President Akufo-Addo and his loyalists are those who have hijacked the party, the NPP stalwart retorted, “What I am saying is that there was this problem, and the party in its wisdom decided to give the party to the Candidate Akufo-Addo, who’s now President Akufo-Addo.”

When the host of PM Express, Evans Mensah pushed further by asking directly if he meant President Akufo-Addo was the party’s problem, Mr Mpiani said, “He is part of the problem. All of us are part, and he is part of the problem.”

The known Kufuor ally, who described Alan’s exit and subsequent decision as unfortunate, however, agreed with him generally that there are problems in the party.

Although he said he was not consulted by Alan on his decision, he said he was not surprised about it and was not opposed to it either.

“There have been problems with the party except that those of us in the party are trying to behave like ostriches and not seeing what’s in the party. I was not too much surprised about what happened because I have been telling colleagues that the way the party is going, if we are not lucky, there are going to be more serious upheavals in the future.”

“I have had the occasion of talking to my colleagues even at the Council of Elders that we must sit up and try to confront the issues in the party. If we pretend that everything is okay we’re going to regret it in the future. Unfortunately, some people didn’t sort of believe what I was saying, and this is one of the outcomes of what is happening in the party” he noted.

He reiterated Alan’s claim about the party being hijacked by a select few, saying, “Unfortunately, the party has become a sort of club for a few people within the party where decisions are taken by them, and then all members are supposed to comply with those decisions. People are not able to come out openly to protest, but those of us sitting back hear a lot of complaints from a lot of members of the party including even those at the highest echelon of the party. And therefore, some of us know that all is not well within the party.”

According to Mr Mpiani, many disgruntled party members who have complained about the current state of the party may want to be part of Alan’s train if things do not improve.

He said the elders of the party may have to reach out to Alan and appeal to him to rejoin the party, adding he’s willing to lead that conversation if the party demands that of him. He said if the party takes the right steps, it can recover from its current challenges.

“Well, we should try to recover. The party has its antecedents which go as far as the 1950s when we became a United Party, and it has a very long history. And therefore, I think we should go back to our beliefs and try to live according to our beliefs. If we do that, we must be able to recover.

Asked whether the current state of affairs will cost the party in the 2024 elections, Mr Mpiani said, “I don’t know yet, but I am sure it is going to affect the party.”
According to him, it was normal for party executives to downplay the impact of Alan’s exit, but behind the scenes, they won’t take it lightly.

Asked whether he thought this decision was the end of Alan Kyerematen’s political career, the former Chief of Staff said, “I don’t know, that’s left for Alan to decide.

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 now to contest the national election as an independent candidate.

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They say it will ensure fairness in the party’s internal elections.

However, they are demanding he ‘walks the talk’ ahead of the August 26, Super Delegate’s Congress.

“The president has spoken. What we want to see is that he walks the talk. By merely saying it, it does not mean that he does not support a candidate,” one concerned party member said while speaking to JoyNews.

The spokeswoman for the Alan Campaign, Yaw Buaben Asamoa, also expressed concerns that in reality there is organised support behind a specific candidate despite the president’s public renunciation.

“It’s okay that the president as an individual says he doesn’t support any of the others. And indeed the president made a very, very significant statement.

“He said the spirit of the party will determine who actually wins this. And that I agree with him except that the establishment is not working in that way.

“The establishment which includes the president and others are demonstrating otherwise.”

Mr Asamoa urged his fellow party members to be vigilant for the upcoming primary elections to prevent them from being rigged in favour of an “establishment candidate.”

In addition, other flagbearer candidates expressed their hopes that candidates who claim endorsement from the president would refrain from doing so following the announcement of the president.

Nonetheless, the spokesperson for Francis Addai-Nimoh’s campaign team highlighted that the primary interest of the flagbearer aspirant [Mr. Addai-Nimoh] is that the forthcoming primary be conducted transparently and fairly.

The concerns of the flagbearer aspirants come on the back of a statement made by President Akufo-Addo on Wednesday, August 2, during a meeting with party communicators.

He stated that he does not have a favoured candidate in the NPP’s presidential primaries, emphasising that delegates would select who leads the party in the election next year.

The President further stated that he would cast his vote for a candidate whom he believes could unite the party and win the 2024 presidential election.

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“This is not the first time the president has made such a statement, so we are not surprised by his clarification,” Mr Tetteh said during an interview on Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem, on Thursday.

Addressing rumours of the President’s stance being influenced by Alan Kyerematen’s camp, Mr Tetteh denied any such claims, affirming that Alan had already made it clear that he sought no endorsements from anyone.

He further emphasized that Alan Kyerematen’s camp was actively engaged in their grassroots campaign and encountered no issues in their efforts, affirming, “We fight our elections based on our merits and will not use anyone’s name for campaigning.”

Nana Akomea, a member of the Bawumia camp and Managing Director of the State Transport Company, echoed similar sentiments, expressing contentment with President Akufo-Addo’s statement.

He confirmed that their campaign proceeded without being influenced by the President’s words, stating, “What he said is alright, and we have no problems with it as we continue with our regular campaign activities.”

President Akufo-Addo emphasized during a meeting with party communicators at the Jubilee House in Accra that his vote would be cast for a candidate capable of unifying the party and securing victory in the upcoming presidential election, with the goal of defeating the perennial NDC Presidential Candidate, John Dramani Mahama.

The NPP’s presidential election appeared to be a closely contested race between Dr. Bawumia and former Minister for Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen.

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