Alan �Cash� Should Step Aside For Akufo-Addo In 2012 � Ben Ephson

Renowned Pollster and Managing Editor of the Daily Dispatch newspaper, Ben Ephson, has posited that it will be suicidal if the New Patriotic Party (NPP) elects Alan Kwadwo Kyeremanteng, as its flagbearer for the 2012 General Elections. Mr. Ephson also opines that in view of the fact that age is on the side of Alan Kyeremanteng, �he should sit back and allow Nana Addo to run unchallenged� as the Party�s flagbearer for 2012, since �he (Alan) will definitely have his opportunity.� Speaking to Kwami Sefa Kayi in an interview on PEACEFM�s �Kokrokoo�, the renowned pollster advised the NPP to close its rank or risk being humiliated in 2012, since the party is sharply divided now than in 2007. �If the NPP does not take care, they will lose the 2012 elections. It�s either one (Alan or Nana Addo) opts out of the race or both decide not to contest�the division is much worse than it was before the 2008 general elections,� he predicted. Citing the aftermath of the Sunyani Congress as an example of why the NPP needs to come together, Mr. Ephson said in 1988, Nana Akufo Addo aligned himself with then candidate Kufuor, despite losing out as flagbearer after a rather intense and caustic campaign. According to him, though some of Nana Addo�s sympathizers were abused and marginalized, they stayed together for the greater interest of the Party. �I believe that if the NPP will be honest to themselves and do independent checks across the country, they have to sit down, bury the hatchet or they should forget 2012,� he stated.