Objective of transformative change brought us together – Abu Sakara on Movement for Change merger

Founder and leader of the National Interest Movement, Dr. Abu Sakara Foster, has stated that the alliance with Alan Kyerematen’s Movement for Change was borne out of a desire for a transformative change in the management of the country.

He said the transformative change goes beyond a mere change in political parties, that is, the NPP or NDC, during elections.

The 2012 presidential candidate for the opposition Convention People’s Party (CPP) noted that the merger was also fueled by an interest in breaking the NPP-NDC duopoly.

Dr. Abu Sakara made the assertions in an interview on TV3’s Hot Issues programme on Sunday, April 15.

Responding to what motivated him to merge with the Movement for Change, he said, “First of all, we are movements, and we also have the same outlook and the same objective.”

“We want to see a transformative change—not just a change, not a change of party, not a change of leadership but a change in terms of getting the quantum leap in development that has eluded us all this while,” he stated.

“So that objective brought us together,” he told Keminni Amanor, host of Hot Issues.

The leader of the National Interest Movement further underscored the need to constitute a third force to break the duopoly of the two leading political parties, the NPP and the NDC.

The two parties have, over the last three decades, secured the highest number of votes, allowing them to switch power amongst themselves.

“We have all been thinking about how we can form a vehicle that will be an alternative to the NDC and NPP and offer us something beyond what they’ve offered us. So that again became a driving force,” said Dr. Sakara Foster, adding that as individuals, members may not have “the wherewithal” due to the monetization of the electoral process.

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“It is going to take a collective effort of the people who are not on either side but are now in the non-aligned domain to come together rather than contest individually within that domain,” he emphasised.

Asked why he described Alan Kyeremanten’s announcement of the merger as “premature,”  Dr. Sakara stressed that an April 17 set date for the public unveiling had not been adhered to by certain quarters outside the alliance.

He explained that “it was premature in the sense that we said we are forming this alliance, this is what it is about and this is what is going to happen; on April 17, we will come out with everything.”

However, reports suggest that Alan Kyerematen and Abu Sakara are now presidential and vice-presidential candidates. This, according to him, was premature as per their intended announcement.