“After having carefully analysed the results of the said elections, it is absolutely clear to me from events leading to, during and after the elections, that the Special Delegates Conference was strategically and tactically skewed in favour of one particular Aspirant.

“The pronouncements made by some leading Members of our Party both before and after the elections, also lend weight to my observations”, he said in a statement issued yesterday after he cancelled a scheduled public address.

Kyerematen placed third in the NPP Super Delegates Congress held on Saturday, August 26, when he polled 95 votes representing 10.82 per cent of the total votes cast in the election won by the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia who won 629 votes, representing 68.15 per centof the total valid votes.

Kyerematen qualified together with Ken Agyapong, who placed second in the election, to participate in the final lap of the Presidential Primaries on November 4.

But in the statement issued on the eve of balloting for the election, he said, “The level of intimidation of varying intensity, directly and indirectly unleashed on a significant number of Delegates at various Voting Centers across the sixteen regions, is unprecedented in the history of our Party.

“In addition, the fact that my Polling Agent in the North East region has suffered severe damage to his eye sight, arising from his bold and courageous effort to ensure compliance with the very rules and regulations for the conduct of the elections as approved by the Presidential Elections Committee, will forever remain a dark spot in the history of internal elections within the Party.”

According to Kyerematen, the “various incident and various acts of violence and collusion, reported in other Voting Centers, are appalling, unconscionable, and despicable.”

He said he was committed to, and valued the safety of those who work with me and for me, and would always fight for their interest.

“The question I keep asking myself is, “How did we get here as a Party in the first place, and how far are we prepared to tread on this dangerous path to self-destruction?”

“Regrettably, am not convinced that the circumstances | have referred to earlier, will not persist or even be escalated in the next round of elections”, he said.

Mr Kyerematen promised to provide an indication of the role that he would play in politics in Ghana, after consultations with his family and various stakeholders.

He wished the other aspirants well and thanked his campaign team and well-wishers for their support.

The post NPP presidential primaries race: Alan bows out …cites favouritism, intimidation and violence appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

Currently, the industry is said to employ a little over 2,000 workers as it nears total collapse.

The woes of the industry started in the early 2000s when original designs made by Ghanaian textile companies were stolen and reproduced cheaply in China for the Ghanaian market.

The industry which had so much potential was pushed to its knees, as high cost of production and the influx of cheaper and pirated textiles from China left it helpless.

Speaking to Citi Business News, the Marketing Director at GTP, Reverend Stephen Badu stated that the workforce in the industry has dropped by over 80 percent since 1985.

“In the 1980s and 1990s we had over 15 textile companies. Currently just three of us are now in active business, Textile limited, which is GTP, Printex and ATL. Now if you put the staff of the three companies together, we are less than 3,000,” he said.

The influx of cheap Chinese textiles hurt the industry such that by 2004, GTP had shut down some of its spinning and weaving departments, while the Ghana Textile and Manufacturing Company Limited (GTMC) shut down its production line in December the following year.

The situation got worse and today the local textile industry is almost no more.

Meanwhile, textile traders at the Rawlings Park, in Accra Central, which is home to textile stalls are blaming authorities for the influx of cheap Chinese textiles on the Ghanaian market.

They tell Citi Business News authorities must be blamed for the near collapse of the industry. They allege that authorities allow pirated and cheap textiles from China into the country.

But a worker in the textile industry and a member of the Taskforce Against Pirated Textiles, Francis Omare maintains that authorities are not the only people that are guilty for the near collapse of the industry.

“The traders must also be blamed because they know how these textiles get into the country and they are aware it’s illegal to purchase those pirated Chinese textiles,” he said.

In a bid to stop the imports of the pirated textiles, the Minister for Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen inaugurated a taskforce in early October, this year.

However, the import of cheap textiles still persists despite the vigilance.

*Courtesy Ghana’s Citi Business News

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