Former Kumasi mayor and National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential hopeful, Kojo Bonsu, has pleaded with former President, John Mahama, to rescind his decision to compete in the party’s presidential race.
According to him, although the former President stands a greater chance of winning, his presence will largely affect the fortunes of the party in subsequent elections. This, he explained, is because per the constitution, Mr Mahama has only one term to fulfill.
“I would want to plead with my former boss that he should sort of pull out and let us go, so that we will win continuously.”
Kojo Bonsu
Mr Bonsu revealed that the party needs to have a continuum to sustain its win in subsequent elections. To this end, he emphasized that the NDC needs a “fresh face that will have a continuous two terms”, and it is only fair to bring in a new person to champion that.
Commenting on whether it matters should the former President occupy the seat for one term or not, Mr Bonsu highlighted that it poses great significance as delegates consider these things in voting for an aspirant. Owing to this, he reckoned that the best person must be selected to actualize the dreams of the party.
“It does because some voters will go like if he went for two terms I’ll support him. So, we want a situation where if somebody is coming in continuously for two years, then he has time to prepare and be able to win the next elections because he’s been on the ground, he knows all that Ghanaians are looking for. So, he will set himself very well to win the next term.”
Kojo Bonsu
NDC tipped to win election 2024 with a new face
The former Kumasi mayor noted that his plans for the country makes him a better choice for the party. He stated that he has bigger plans for the country as he desires “peace, unity, a prosperous Ghana, and a together Ghana”.
“… I bring a new face, I bring something new to the table and I’m ready to serve the people very well.”
Kojo Bonsu
Highlighting on his chances of winning the party’s presidential elections, Mr Bonsu revealed that he has no concerns on winning. Admittedly, he stated that the former president obviously has a superior edge which ought to be used to ensure a win for the party with a new face as its representative.
“I don’t really have any concern. He’s the former President [so] he has an advantage and people will look at him more. But it is my message that I’m selling to the people on the ground that the former President has been very fantastic, very great, he’s done a lot of things for NDC and NDC will campaign with his name, but he should be a legacy for it…”
Kojo Bonsu
Per Info Analytics latest survey, it revealed that in October 2022, Mahama polled 70%, which is representative of his win in the upcoming party election although he shot up to 77% in January 2023. This is a yawning gap when sided with Mr Bonsu’s 4%.
In response to this, the NDC presidential hopeful questioned that authenticity of the research. He argued that even though former President Mahama has achieved a lot for the NDC, “he’s only going to do four years”.
“The data or research Info Analytics has made, is it a genuine one? What was the kind of sampling they did? The thing is with delegates and elections in this country… you need to come down and work on the ground and let the people understand all that you’re bringing to them.
So, I believe that if we do the right thing, we’ll get the right percentages for us to use to work on. I don’t think this is very authentic so I want a good research so that it will inform me about the behavior of the NDC electorates.”
Kojo Bonsu
Mr Bonsu believes that due to the mismanagement of the country by the incumbent NPP, there’s a possibility that the NDC will win with anybody and they will go for two terms. He however revealed that although the NDC could potentially win again in 2028, marketing will prove difficult when it comes to campaigning with a new person for the party when John Mahama end his tenure in 2024.
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