Hassan Ayariga
The 2016 All People’s Congress flagbearer Hassan Ayariga has said although he endorsed President Mahama in the 2016 elections, he knew the NDC candidate was going to lose.
He said President Mahama’s campaign was doomed to fail because the disconnect between the party and the grassroots was glaring.
This disconnect became obvious to him after he found out that out of the 200 people who came to register to join his six-month-old party daily, 90% were defectors from the NDC.
He said he founded his party largely from NDC defectors who felt sidelined. Providing further evidence to back his claim of a despondent NDC grassroot, he said the 2016 election results validate his views.
According to him, the NPP largely maintained its 2012 votes but the NDC lost at least a million of its 2012 votes.
Yet before the election, Hassan Ayariga, disqualified by the Electoral Commission, endorsed the NDC incumbent John Mahama.
The APC leader explained he endorsed John Mahama because he called to console him for his political misfortune.
He told Joy FM Super Morning Show Friday this act of commiseration was also followed by similar calls from the CPP Presidential candidate Ivor Greenstreet and an independent candidate Jacob Osei Yeboah.
‘The NPP never called me,’ the businessman said.
At a meeting to choose which party to endorse, Ayariga said the regional executives voted to endorse John Mahama.
He said he cast the last ballot to throw his party’s untested weight behind the tested candidature of President John Mahama who eventually lost.
100 days of NPP in government
Weighing in on the NPP government’s 100 days in office, Hassan Ayariga said his first disappointment came early when he saw headporters parading at the Independence Day celebration in Accra.
He said the government embraced the country before the international gathering at the Independence Square by showcasing a menial job of headporters known as ‘Kayayei’.
“It is not unlawful but it is shameful” he criticised.
The APC flagbearer claimed that 90% of kayayei come from the Vice-President Dr. Bawumia’s village in Walewale in the Northern region.
“Will you put your child there to go and parade with a head pan” he asked host Kojo Yankson. He stressed that “if we cannot change [the plight of kayayei], we should not promote it” he expressed disappointment.
He said under an APC government, headporters will receive vocational training and employment benefits to ensure they do not fall back on carrying load for a living.
-Myjoyonline