Infighting erupts among independent presidential aspirants; Gane exits, Koranteng made leader
The Coalition of Independent Political Aspirants (CIPA) has elected Mr Kofi Koranteng as its leader.
CIPA said in a statement co-signed by Dr. Kwaku A. Danso, Chairman, CIPA Steering Committee; and Mr Festus Kwaw-Tumi, Communications Director, on Monday, 17 August 2020 that Mr Marricke Kofi Gane, one of the five independent presidential aspirants that formed the coalition, is no more part of them.
CIPA said Mr Gane, who, until recently, was the “defacto leader of the coalition” “basically failed to show any sense of the leadership commitment needed” and has also not been a team player.
Read CIPA’s full statement below:
CIPA ANNOUNCES MR KOFI KORANTENG AS THE LEADER OF THE INDEPENDENT PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRANTS (IPAs 2020)
The Coalition of Independent Political Aspirants is glad to announce that at the end of a long selection process that included, among others, the recent debate organised by IMANI and JOYNEWS on August 13, 2020 at the University of Professional Studies, Mr. Kofi Koranteng, an investment banker, mechanical engineer and entrepreneur, has emerged as the leader of the Independent Presidential Aspirants (IPAs) that included Messrs Marricke Kofi Gane, Carl Ebo Morgan, Samuel Ofori Ampofo and Onipayede Ossom Teye.
As mentioned in our initial Press Release and on our Facebook page, the vision and mission of CIPA has been to create a global platform that supports a younger generation of political aspirants who do not subscribe to the current corruption mindset and club mentality of winner-takes-all politics.
Our global base of independently minded supporters wish to break the monopoly of powers wielded by the NPP/NDC who cannot even declare their source of wealth as they illegally dish out monies and gifts to buy party delegates, and have corrupted our electoral system, broke down most government service functions, and made politics into a den of self-serving bureaucrats.
CIPA is extremely proud of being the first organisation to effectively pull together a collection of independent presidential aspirants to work together as one team, and CIPA wholeheartedly endorses the leadership of Mr Kofi Koranteng as primus inter pares, the first among equals.
The character and integrity of all aspirants is very critical to this selection process and it is our mission to usher in an era where the government will act as a facilitator to attract investment capital as well as Ghanaian Diaspora global talent to rebuild Ghana as the black star of Africa and source of black pride in the world!
It is imperative that CIPA makes a statement to counter some of the narrative put out by Mr Marricke Kofi Gane, a former member of the coalition.
· As far back as April 2020, it was clear to CIPA that both Mr Kofi Koranteng and Mr Marricke Kofi Gane were the two strongest candidates among the IPAs, but with CoVID-19 raging and with Mr Koranteng “stuck” in the USA, CIPA suggested that Mr Gane lead the coalition. This decision was based on social media presence, physical presence in Ghana, and with the agreement of the other IPAs. The only proviso was that Mr Marricke Kofi Gane appoint Mr Kofi Koranteng as his running mate.
· Mr Gane asked for some time to consider the proposal, especially as he already had a potential running mate in mind.
· To ease Mr Gane’s dilemma, Mr Koranteng spoke directly with him and made it clear that he would be willing to step aside and allow Mr Gane to choose his own running mate. Mr Gane expressed gratitude to him for this gesture. To all intents and purposes, Mr Gane was now the de facto leader of the coalition.
· For the next six weeks, there was no attempt by Mr Marricke Kofi Gane to work with, or attempt to consolidate the coalition. He missed completely, or was late to, or left early on ELEVEN (11) occasions out of the TWENTY-ONE (21) meetings held, and he basically failed to show any sense of the leadership commitment needed.
· CIPA then withdrew the proposal, but continued to work with the 5 candidates including Mr Marricke Kofi Gane in the process of selecting a leader of the IPAs.
· Before the IMANI/JOY News Debate, the IPAs and CIPA had agreed to some criteria that would help choose a leader. Inter alia, performance at the debate as measured by two specific polls (Joy News Facebook and Joy News Twitter) would be counted as part of the selection criteria. Based on these criteria, Mr Kofi Koranteng was selected.
· CIPA has worked extremely hard over the past 21 weeks with committee members from Australia, Ghana, UK and USA attempting to keep a united front with the IPAs, but if one wishes to go his own way, there is nothing more that CIPA can do.
This part of CIPA’s work is now done. Going forward, the IPAs under the Chairmanship of Mr Ofori Ampofo, will be making its own statements and will launch in due course.
We invite all Ghanaians, both home and abroad, to donate from their hearts and help us retire the NPP and NDC and attract the youth of Ghana to believe again in ourselves as black people in a second wave of Ghana’s Independence! The Youth of Ghana should never be deceived again with slogans. With the cooperation of all Ghanaians and our African Diaspora, we can put Ghana back on the right track; stop the massive borrowing that has reached GHS258 billion; stop the reckless spending habits; punish corruption, and manage our economy. We can demonstrate the needed skills to create a modern society; design a more equitable taxation policy; create an open atmosphere for entrepreneurial capital formation, and create jobs for the millions that are not even counted and seem forgotten by the NPP and NDC.
Signed
Dr. Kwaku A. Danso- Chairman/ CIPA Steering Committee
Festus Kwaw-Tumi- Communications Director: 233-26-861-1808
Also, read below Mr Gane’s full statement for exiting the coalition
GANE-4-GHANA EXITS CIPA COALITION
Comrades, Ghanaians, sisters and brothers,
Many of you have supported the Gane4Ghana agenda at various times from March 2019 until now. You are real Patriots and we take the opportunity to thank you for everything.
When this journey started, we made one commitment to you all – that we’ll always put Ghana first before anything else. Today, in that same spirit, we wish to announce to you all, that the Gane4Ghana agenda (and campaign) is no more a part of what has become known and called the Coalition of Independent Political Aspirants, CIPA. Our reasons are stated below:A week to the IMANI-JOY Independent Presidential Aspirants’ debate, two criteria were agreed upon between the Aspirants and the Coalition’s Steering Committee. It was agreed that a leader would emerge based on the outcome of debate and related polls to be run by IMANI and Joy. This was after an earlier five-point criteria put forward by IPAs was set aside. This earlier criteria were (a) Debate Results (b) Social Media Presence (c) On-the-Ground Strength (d) Manifesto Rating and (e) Campaign Financing machinery. It was also agreed among all the five Independent Candidates before the debate, that whoever emerged leader will have the freehand, to choose their Vice, with advisory input from all other candidates. The final polls below, show the results from IMANI (1 poll) and JOY, who broadcasted the debate on their TV and Radio channels, both of which had a poll each on Twitter and Facebook (4 polls). The Gane4Ghana Team won on 3 polls out of 4.
At a CIPA executive meeting held on Saturday 15th August 2020, it was asserted the IMANI polls will NOT be accepted due to its inherent potential to allow multiple votes. The Steering Committee, for unexplained reasons, elected to consider only the Joy News poll, neglecting the Joy News poll on Twitter and the Joy997FM polls on both Twitter and Facebook.
In a further twist, contrary to previously agreed criteria, the Steering Committee proceeded to ask each of the IPAs present to vote between which of the 2 aspirants – Kofi Koranteng or Marricke Kofi Gane they preferred to lead CIPA. The result is as follows:
• Mr C. Morgan – Voted Mr. Kofi Koranteng
• Mr K. Koranteng – Voted Mr. Kofi Koranteng
• Mr O. Teye – Abstained
• Mr O. Ampofo – Absent (Bereaved)
• Mr M. Gane – Abstained (with reasons of flawed replacement process)
On these 2 flawed bases, the Steering Committee announced Mr Kofi Koranteng as Leader of the Coalition.
Gane4Ghana believes that the adopted process was neither fair nor transparent. Despite the murky nature by which the final result was determined, we have wished CIPA and their Lead Candidate well for the race ahead.
Regrettably, we cannot find any integrity or transparency in a process or body that willingly sets aside agreed criteria and voting results that the good people of Ghana have taken their time and efforts to invest in. We have always as an alternative, promised Ghanaians FEARLESS HONESTY and here again, we stand to defend it.
What this means, is that we will continue to go forward as we have always done, as the credible Ghanaian Agenda and Gane4Ghana campaign. We are simply no more under the CIPA umbrella.
We know a lot will be said going forward. We wish to assure Ghanaians, that we are focused on forging ahead with our agenda to build a Ghana that works for ALL of us, not just a few.
