A planned crisis meeting said to have been instigated by President J.A. Kufuor to address perceived animosity among the 19 flagbearer aspirants of the ruling New Patriotic Party over the perceived support of the president for Mr. Alan Kyerematen, himself one of the leading aspirants, did not come off. The President had called for a meeting of all the aspirants and party bigwigs to be held at the Castle at noon on Wednesday, however, according to The Independent, the highly anticipated meeting was called off owing to the deteriorated relations among the lot. The paper said some of the aspirants unhappy about President Kufuor's perceived support for Alan, threatened to boycott the meeting on the basis of the venue, and said, it was an uncomfortable venue for such a crisis meeting. The Independent quoting some unnamed aspirants, said, they would have boycotted the meeting if the organisers had insisted it should be held at the Castle. They said such a meeting should be held at either the Australian House or Akosombo, or in an atmosphere outside the Castle, which is the bastion of President Kufuor. Further, the paper said some of the aspirants were not happy about the personalities who convened the meeting between them and the president. The conveners of the Castle meeting, The Independent learnt, were Professor Adjei Bekoe, Chairman of the Council of State who doubles as Chairman of NPP's vetting committee; Madam Ama Busia, a member of the Council of State, and Mr. Odoi Sykes, former Chairman of the New Patriotic Party. The aspirants were of the view that such the meeting should have been organised under the auspices of the NPP Council of Elders or the National Executive Committee instead of being called by individuals. “The aspirants told The Independent that, the mode of invitation to the meeting, done by a text message to their cell phones, was not proper, and so was the manner in which the meeting was cancelled, by SMS text messages.” The paper said before convening yesterday's aborted meeting, the conveners had met aspirants individually to discuss their campaigns and to set the tone for the meeting. Some of the aspirants stated categorically that, they saw the Castle meeting as a public relations gimmick to tell the whole world that President Kufuor was at peace with all the aspirants and there was no problem between him and the aspirants. President Kufuor has denied the allegations he was supporting any particular candidate. Source: The Independent