Political analyst, Dr. Kobby Mensah, says should Alan Kyerematen decide to run as an independent candidate, he will be a formidable third force.

Alan Kyerematen has withdrawn from the NPP’s presidential primaries citing irregularities and the lack of a level-playing field for aspiring presidential candidates.

According to Dr. Mensah, should the former NPP presidential aspirant decide to run solo, he could win the support of Ghanaians who have become disenchanted with the political duopoly of the NPP and NDC.

He noted that unlike other smaller parties and their often not-widely-known candidates, Alan Kyerematen’s political profile is well known across the country and he enjoys considerable goodwill from Ghanaians.

Speaking on Joy FM's Top Story, he said, “The country itself, I mean, you hear quite a lot of people unhappy with what you call the duopoly where you have the NDC and NPP changing the baton every now and then and so most people have actually expressed that kind of opinion that there must be a third force.

“In the past whenever we have had a certain third force, it hadn’t naturally been to the level where you think they can wrestle power. Obviously we had in Abu Sakara being a very formidable candidate for CPP, at some point we had Papa Kwesi Nduom for CPP as well. Very formidable.

“But they couldn’t actually make the kind of impact that we thought. Papa Kwesi Nduom went on to establish the PPP and still could not actually make the kind of impact that we were expecting.”

Dr. Mensah further stated that previous third force contenders had failed primarily because of the timing.

He explained that during the days of Dr. Nduom and Abu Sakara, Ghanaians were okay with the political duopoly, but the situation has changed now providing Alan Kyerematen a very viable opportunity.

“Clearly, Alan Kyerematen is not in the same league as Papa Kwesi Nduom and Abu Sakara, you can argue, because he has been contesting in the NPP’s internal elections for quite some time. He‘s one of the most known political personalities in the country. He perhaps wields a different kind of strength than in the past.

“So perhaps if he has to go independent which we don’t know yet, I think it would be a very huge statement because people might think that perhaps we have the kind of third force that they’ve been looking for.

“Don’t forget in those times, CPP and PPP eras we didn’t have that crave for a third force like we do now  and of course like I said the candidates that actually stood and the parties that they stood on were not as strong and as known as we do with Alan Kyerematen for example. So, perhaps that will be a huge statement and that could actually bring in a different dynamic altogether,” he said.