<<Print>>

The woes of the People�s National Convention (PNC) flagbearer, Hassan Ayariga, appear to have just begun as a bulk of his party executives has decided to boycott his campaign. Some parliamentary candidates of the party are also collecting signatories to force Mr Ayariga to stand down as leader of the party. According to Atik Mohammed, PNC policy analyst, instead of actively campaigning for their errant flagbearer, the hierarchy of the party would concentrate on garnering support for its 94 parliamentary candidates, who had been abandoned by Mr Ayariga to fend for themselves. At a press conference yesterday on the heels of the IEA presidential debate by a section of the party�s executives, they expressed an unequivocal displeasure at the conduct of Mr. Ayariga who carries himself as though he were a �puppet� of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC). In his eagerness to toe the line of the NDC, Mr. Ayariga has bluntly attacked policies in the PNC manifesto which he helped draft. He has condemned the free education policy which is in the PNC manifesto because the NDC is doing same. According to Henry Asante, the PNC�s Communications Director, in his opposition to that specific policy, he forgot that he was directly involved in drafting the free education policy in the PNC�s 2012 manifesto. Abu Ramadan, the National Youth Organiser of the PNC, described Ayariga�s conduct as �treasonable� to the collective interest of the PNC. The conveners of the press conference, who were obviously embarrassed by the attitude of their flagbearer, included the communications director of the PNC, Henry Asante, Atik Mohammed, Abu Ramadan and a number of regional chairmen of the PNC. The PNC parliamentary candidate for Tamale Central, a certain Alhassan, said he would impress on his colleagues to get rid of Ayariga as the presidential candidate for the party two weeks to the general elections. Alhassan told Joy FM yesterday that Mr Ayariga�s conduct was, to say the least, very embarrassing to the party. However, the PNC leader dared his party members to initiate the impeachment proceedings. Cough Bouts The tipping point for this powerful group in the PNC is Mr. Ayariga�s ridiculous antics at the just concluded Institute of Economic Affairs presidential debate where he clearly messed himself up with his curious bouts of coughs and his brazen show of allegiance to the NDC on a debate platform. Ayariga condemned the free SHS promised by the NPP, saying that it was not attainable when the same policy features prominently in the PNC manifesto. �Unfortunately, he has become a comic reliever rather than a serious candidate for president for our grassroots support base. �Mr. Ayariga�s actions have put the fortunes of the party into great jeopardy. Our members at the grassroots have lost faith in the ability of Ayariga to maximize the party�s fortunes,� stated Ramadan. �We are asking the leadership to, as a matter of urgent course, openly rebuke Mr. Ayariga in order to stop him from further deteriorating the party�s enviable image and to roll back the confidence and trust of the party foot-soldiers who are working assiduously for the party to win the 2012 elections,� he added. Mr Ramadan said Mr Ayariga�s interest on the day seemed more of attacking the NPP rather than convincing Ghanaians to vote for the PNC. �We want the party leadership at NEC to call him to order. If not, the question people have started asking is, �will he Hassan Ayariga vote for himself on December 7, considering the way he is going about things; will he vote for himself on December 7?� Whom does he want to vote for him if people are not sure that he will even cast a vote for himself on December 7?� According to Ramadan, the candidate should have exposed the shortcomings of the government and persuaded voters to unseat the government. He also lamented that his flagbearer failed to highlight issues that would bring votes to the party, but rather developed interest in things that would boost the votes of the ruling party as he kept making references to the positive things done by the government. �The question is that, what has he seen wrong, otherwise of this NDC that he wants to take over if all he knows is an attack on the NPP, a co-opposition party who also seeks to annex the leadership of this country just as we do?� According to Atik, Ayariga�s performance �took away the shine of the programme�. �As for Hassan Ayariga, the least said about him the better because for someone whois representing the People�s National Convention and is supposed to say what the PNC will do when it comes to power; he didn�t do that�even what we have as a manifesto promise, this man changed it�free education is in our manifesto but this man said he does not believe in that,� Atik asserted on Peace FM�s morning show, �Kokrokoo�. According to him, Hassan Ayariga�s attitude at the presidential debate held at the Banquet Hall, State House, on Wednesday, confirmed the suspicion that he had been paid to say things in favour of the NDC. �He confirmed the suspicion that he speaks in favour of the NDC, because yesterday he was speaking for the NDC. This man is not representing himself or his political party. He is doing the bidding of another political party. He was praising John Mahama left, right, centre; he confirmed the suspicion that he has been rented and that he was supposed to do a particular job which was to distract Nana Addo. People are discerning and they know that there is an external hand,� he said. No Qualms According to the PNC, Mr. Ayariga had not shown tact in the way he expressed his allegiance to the NDC. Mid this year, when late President Evans Atta Mills was alive, the PNC flagbearer unilaterally jumped on the bandwagon at the tarmac of the Kotoka International Airport to welcome ex-President Mills from his medical trip to the USA. Since then, he has openly made statements that clearly show where his loyalty lies. When the NDC was at the neck of its founder, Jerry John Rawlings, for exposing the negative part of the party in public, Mr. Ayariga was quick to support the NDC in condemning the ex-president. Mr. Ayariga has made it no secret his determination to criticize the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), the NDC�s biggest threat in the December 7 presidential and parliamentary polls. He has also been very vocal about his condemnation of the National Democratic Party (NDP), a breakaway faction of the NDC. The aggrieved party members alleged that Mr. Ayariga was indeed being directly sponsored by the John Mahama-led NDC for his campaign. DAILY GUIDE gathers that Mr. Ayariga�s main accomplice is the PNC�s general secretary, Bernard Mornah, alleged to have been distributing John Mahama�s campaign T-shirts in the Upper West Region. Double Jeopardy The PNC is stuck in a dilemma. The best it can do now (two weeks to the elections) is to call its delinquent flagbearer to order because there is no way it can replace him. Ayariga was duly elected at the party�s congress by its teeming delegates as the one to bear the torch for the party and there is no way the executives could overturn the choice of the people. According to Henry Asante, many party followers had regretted nominating Mr Ayariga as the party�s flagbearer, but there was nothing they could do about it. �Individually, we have regretted but collectively, we have no choice,� Mr. Asante lamented. In the PNC�s constitution, the party�s flagbearer is not the leader of the party. That role is vested in the party�s chairman; hence Mr. Ayariga is just the face of the party in the polls. According to some aggrieved members of the PNC, after the December polls, they would boot out Mahama Ayariga.