A former General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and now a member of the Alan Kyerematen campaign team, Nana Ohene Ntow, has dismissed claims suggesting that the independent presidential candidate was preaching divisiveness by urging Ghanaians to vote for a Christian leader in the upcoming general election.
According to him, Mr Kyerematen’s assertion that Christians should vote for a ‘Christian-like’ president in the forthcoming December 2024 election was merely political rhetoric and has nothing to do with religion.
Speaking on Upfront on JoyNews on Wednesday, April 3, Mr Ntow stated that it is hypocritical for anybody, especially political opponents whose candidate has been promoting Muslims voting for Muslims, to assert that because Mr Kyerematen said he is a Christian, they should vote for him.
“This talk, very obviously for anybody who will be honest, is political and has nothing to do with religion. If it has anything to do with religion, it is the advantage that both Bawumia and Alan and others see that they can take of the religious lobby that they are also getting closer, endearing themselves to that.”
“So if anybody turns around and says all these, basically insulting Alan, I see it as political manners,” he said.
His comment comes after the leader of the Movement for Change called on Ghanaians to elect a ‘Christlike’ president in the forthcoming December 2024 elections.
While addressing congregants of the Church of Pentecost, Dr Wyatt Assembly over the weekend, Mr Kyerematen said, “As a predominantly Christian nation, as Christians, it is our responsibility that we elect a Christian leader, who is also a Christ-like leader.
“We want a leader who has the vision to bring hope to the hopeless, but we also want a leader who will be a servant leader to serve the people and not to lord over them.
“We also want a leader who has integrity. These were the characteristics of our Lord Jesus who today is risen.”
On the back of this, the former NPP General Secretary argued that every smart politician who wants to win an election will solicit votes from religious bodies.
“If you have a majority social segment, a demographic segment, a religious segment and it gets into politics, every smart, sensible politician like Dr Bawumia who is a Muslim candidate and realizes that the numbers for the voters, they are the churches, why is he dancing around churches?
“Has he suddenly become a Christian? Has he confessed? So I’m saying Dr Bawumia going to church, a Muslim, and he’s asking Christians to vote for him, and a Christian going to Church asks Christians to vote for him, and people are telling him he’s creating tension.”
Mr Ntow said that Mr Kyerematen had announced that he was going to form a government of national unity irrespective of any political party but not going to form a religious party or government.
He argued that Mr Kyerematen was campaigning for votes and he went to a predominantly Christian area, asking Christians to vote for him.
Meanwhile, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has joined the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to condemn the comments by Mr Kyerematen.
The Director of Communications for the NPP, Richard Ahiagbah says such comments do not augur well for national cohesion.
He argues that the statement by the former Trades Minister is divisive and contrary to the religious inclusivity in Ghanaian politics.
