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NDC better off in 2020 without Mahama – Kwasi Prempeh

Politics of Saturday, 23 February 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-02-23

Mahama Serious 43Former President John Mahama

Director for Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) has said the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is better off not making former President John Mahama flagbearer in Saturday’s presidential primaries.

Prof H. Kwasi Prempeh believes the opposition party stands a better chance of ousting the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2020 if NDC delegates elect a new candidate instead of bringing back the man who represented the NDC in 2016 but lost.

“A party has a free will and choice to choose who it wants to elect as flagbearer. I particularly find it a bit mind-boggling that the NDC is in this position. I also share the sense that John Mahama is going to prevail in the primaries but I don’t know if that is best for the party…

”I think the NPP clearly will prefer that John Mahama be the candidate and for good reason. I think the NDC would have done themselves a lot of good they had looked elsewhere. But that is the NDC,” the law professor and renowned governance expert said on Joy FM/MultiTV news analysis programme Newsfile on Saturday.

Former President John Mahama, then flag bearer of the NDC, lost by more than 9% of total votes to the NPP’s Nana Akufo-Addo.

Akufo-Addo obtained a staggering 5,716,609 of total votes cast in the 2016 elections, representing 53.84%, to snatch the Presidency from John Mahama, who secured 4,713,277 votes (44.40%). The NDC also lost more than 40 parliamentary seats to the NPP.

NDC’s performance at last year’s polls is its worst since 1992.

“I would be surprised if he [John Mahama] didn’t harbour the desire to come back. But what surprise me is that if you weigh all the factors, good reason, in my view, will counsel against the NDC itself, not John Mahama, but the NDC itself allowing that to happen,” he said.

Meanwhile, the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) says it wants former President John Mahama to win so he goes face to face with President Akufo-Addo’s record in office.

Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said on Newsfile, Saturday that the governing party will win the 2020 polls much easier if John Mahama is on the ticket of the NDC.

NDC presidential primaries

NDC, Ghana’s largest opposition party, will Saturday elect its 2020 flagbearer as it attempts to cut short its stay in opposition since 2017. The party is seeking to find one out of seven candidates whom they believe will hold the most convincing sway over voters come the 2020 general elections.

They are former president John Mahama, Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Alban Kingsford Sumani Bagbin, former Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, former Vice Chancellor of University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Prof. Joshua Alabi.

There are also former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Mr Sylvester Mensah, a cadre, Mr Goosie Tanoh and businessman, Alhaji Nurideen Iddrisu.

The party is using the most exhaustive electoral process ever seen in any political party with nearly 280,000 delegates across all 275 constituencies expected to cast their ballot.

All branch executives, constituency executives, regional executives, regional council of elders, MPs, former government appointees and founding members will have their say in Ghana’s most novel internal party primary.

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