Three weeks ago representatives of four candidates contesting the presidential primaries of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) held a press conference to allege that the election committee and the national executive of the party were planning to steal the election. They did not say who the beneficiary of such stealing will be. This left the public with a guess. The guess was that the candidates whose representative was not at the press conference was to be the beneficiary of such stealing. The next day, another Accra-based radio station asked Alan Kyerematen why his spokesperson together with other spokespersons chose the medium of a press conference to express their misgivings about the election process. Alan flatly denied any knowledge of the press conference. In other words, Alan wanted us to believe that his spokesperson organised a prèss conference to complain about a major issue that concerns his political future without his knowledge. Alan and his men think that all of us in the NPP except themselves are fools. If indeed Alan did not know about the press conference before it happened, and thereafter is still keeping Yaw Buabeng Asamoah as his spokesperson, then it calls to question his leadership credentials. The fact however is that Alan having realised the backlash that the press conference generated for him, especially among NPP delegates, decided to beat a retreat. To me Alan like some others I have seen become president, an indecisive person, whose leadership of our party will spell disaster. So much for Alan and back to the substance of this article. It is clear that the instigators of this rather unnecessary press conference was the Alan camp. Early on in the race, Kwabena Agyapong had alleged bias on the part of the National Chairman of the party, Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, for agreeing to make a donation on behalf of Akufo-Addo at the funeral of one of Chief Dombo’s children. A few days after that, Maxwell Kofi Juma, one of the lynch-pins of the Alan camp, also alleged bias on the part of the entire national executive of the party. His basis was that the party executive had scheduled a meeting of regional executives of the party from the northern sector of the country in Sunyani to coincide with Akufo-Addo’s tour of that region. The implication was that the national executive wanted to clandestinely deliver the northern sector of the party to Akufo-Addo. Maxwell Kofi Juma later apologised and retracted when the folly of his baseless accusation was made known to him. The point to be made however is that he achieved his aim of poisoning the mind of the public against an Akufo-Addo victory. Thus, right from the blast of the whistle, the strategy of the Alan camp has been to put a dampener on an Akufo-Addo victory which they know is as sure as the sun will rise. Enter Kwadow Mpiani. Kwadwo Mpiani also joined in the accusation band wagon, by supposedly cautioning the national executive of the party not to impose a candidate on the party. When Gabby Otchere Darko wrote a response, Kwadwo said that it was a conversation he intended to be private. Whether he intended his thoughts to be private or not is not relevant. It is inconceivable that Mpiani should even think that anybody can impose a candidate on this party. When he and his boss were in charge in Ghana and literally whipped the entire government machinery and resources in favour of Alan, they did not succeed in imposing him on the party. How does he imagine that with an enlarged electoral college, supervised by the National Electoral Commission, anybody can impose a candidate on the party. But the question to be asked is, is there really a plan to steal the election for Akufo-Addo? Better still, is Akufo-Addo planning to steal the election? Three days after the Alan camp made the allegation, the council of elders of the party met with all the candidates in the race and amicably resolved the matter and allayed the fears of the those who allege impending fraud. This easily gave their game away. What it means is that, they have never believed or known to exist, a plan to steal the election. Rather, they have all along been raising these issues to serve as a smokescreen or diversionary tactic for what they intend to do. It is the Alan camp that intends to steal the election. My attention was drawn to their scheme in the Upper East Region a few weeks ago. After the constituencies had submitted their albums to the regional secretariat of the party, Alan’s agents in the regional executive removed the photographs of three people each from each polling station album, with the aim of disenfranchising them. The idea being to reduce Akufo-Addo’s votes in the region. This of course was led by the regional organiser and Alan’s campaign co-ordinator in the region, Yaw Mort. Akufo-Addo’s men in the region, chose to protest by writing to the regional executive rather than resorting to an unnecessary press conference. So it is not just Alan’s men who had some complains. The difference is that Akufo-Addo’s men respect law and order and preferred to follow correct procedure in addressing their grievances. Now to the more serious matter. Intelligence has it that the Alan group has a grand scheme to steal the election through bribery. This scheme is led by the self same Kwadwo Mpiani who does not want the party to impose a candidate. According to intelligence sources, Mpiani has set aside GH¢500 each for the electoral commission officers who shall be monitoring the elections in the various constituencies. They have also been complaining about not being given a list of the election committee members in the various constituencies, because, they want to have the list way ahead of time so they can implement their devious scheme. Well, since we are in a time of alarm raising, I also intend to raise this alarm so that all of us can be on the look out. The electoral commission will also have to caution its officers against accepting any form of gift from any group or person within the NPP. The party is going to pay the electoral commission for its services. I therefore expect that the electoral commission will pay whatever stipend that there is to be paid to its officers, so that they are not tempted to accept any gift from any person or persons for whatever purposes. If Alan and his men think that by throwing out unfounded allegations against others, they will succeed in getting us to drop our guard for them to implement their diabolical plan, they are terribly mistaken. Mpiani should keep his peace and keep his money. We are watching. By Mallam Inusah, Zabzugu Constituency