Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye, MP for Odododiodio
The Minority Caucus in Parliament are united as a bloc behind former President John Dramani Mahama as the National Democratic Congress’ presidential candidate in 2024 when next polls are held.
This was disclosed by Odododiodio MP, Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye on Tuesday, September 14, when he appeared on Citi TV’s Face To Face programme.
“To me, as I sit here and I know with 137 Members of Parliament that he is our next flagbearer. I am talking of 137 MPs who are leaders of our constituencies, we have resolved already. He is our next candidate,” he said.
Asked whether or not the NDC will not accept any challengers to the flagbearership race at the next congress, he said the party indeed had lots of competent hands but he was certain that any person or group of persons who contest will be beaten badly.
“Anyone who comes, I don’t care the number of people who will be courageous to come, they will not get more than one percent. We will be endorsing John Mahama as our candidate at the next congress, I am very sure about that.
“We have a lot of people but he is we have marketed most, he is the one most Ghanaians trust, he is the one Ghanaians have come to appreciate the difference between somebody who believes in good governance, somebody who has a vision for his country… and someone who just came for self-aggrandizement, to satisfy his capricious belief that he was born to be president,” he added.
The NDC recorded significant gains in the 2020 polls as compared to the 2016 election. The party currently has 137 seats in Parliament, the same as the NPP with the tiebreaker being the Fomena MP who is an independent candidate. His decision to work with the NPP gave the party the ‘Majority Group’ label in the house.
The NDC is due to elect national executives and a flagbearer in the next few years. The last flagbearership race was in February 2019 with Mahama pooling over 95% of votes with six other contenders sharing the remaining votes.