A lawyer and Council Member of the Centre for Social Justice, Theodore Albright says intimidation claims made by Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen during the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) Super Delegates Conference must be taken seriously.
According to him, if the Party considers Mr Kyerematen as a worthy candidate running a campaign within the party, his concerns must not be dismissed because he is "a person of substance and a person of high standard."
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, Mr Albright explained that the NPP cannot simply dismiss Mr Kyerematen's claims by saying he is "disgruntled" with the election process.
“Well, the figures might work against him, but what he has to say should be taken seriously. When you combine the figures for Alan and the combined figures for Ken, that's rounded up about 25% or one-quarter of the total votes. And these two people complained about the process.
“And so we can't simply dismiss Alan's complaint as a sore loser, not at all,” he stressed.
The Lawyer's comments were in response to Mr Kyerematen's statement in which he announced his withdrawal from the party's flagbearer race.
In the statement, the former Trade and Industry Minister detailed various incidents he believed had favoured one particular aspirant during the party's Super Delegates Conference.
He also noted the level of intimidation directed at delegates across the 16 regions, which he described as unprecedented in the party's history.
Also read: Alan Kyerematen withdraws from NPP presidential race
With regard to this, Mr. Albright expressed his concern that the NPP may not be taking Mr. Kyerematen's allegations of intimidation seriously.
He emphasised that addressing such issues should not be treated lightly and should receive the serious consideration it deserves.
“The signal that is then given is that, as is either modus operandi or it is an acceptable way of addressing matters of democracy.
“And I'm rather pained, actually, when I listened to my fellow panellist and deputy general secretary for the party speaking rather light terms on this matter,” Mr Albright stated.
To this end, the Deputy General Secretary of the NPP, Haruna Mohammed refuted some of the reasons cited by Mr Kyerematen for his withdrawal from the party's flagbearer race.
According to him, there are inaccuracies and misrepresentations in Mr Kyerematen's withdrawal statement, particularly regarding violations of rules and the allegation of the election being skewed.
Mr. Mohammed clarified that not all voting centres experienced serious violations, and the percentage of centres affected was much lower than implied in the former Trade and Industry Minister's statement.
Speaking on Newsfile, he emphasised that the party's constitution predetermined the need for a Super Delegates election when more than five aspirants contested for the flagbearer position.
The NPP Deputy General Secretary argued that the party would not have opened nominations for all aspirants if they had intended to skew the process in favour of one candidate, as suggested by Mr Kyerematen.
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