A political scientist at the University of Ghana, Dr Kwame Asah-Asante, has disclosed that former President, John Dramani Mahama, is popular to the rank and file of the party, especially considering its upcoming flagbearership elections.
According to him, the former President will be garnering the massive declaration of support from party supporters in his presidential bid. He indicated that Mr Mahama is equally experienced and has a record of leading the party.
“If you look at the NDC from where I sit, Mahama is very popular to the rank and file, to everybody within the party. So, I am not surprised that you are seeing such gestures.”
Dr Kwame Asah-Asante
Dr Asah-Asante explained that the other contestants have to campaign using the legacy of former flagbearers of the party such as Rawlings, Professor Mills and then John Mahama himself. As such, if Mr Mahama is a contestant, then they have a rather “daunting task” to attain.
When asked if the massive declaration of support for Mr Mahama demonstrates fairness, Dr Asah-Asante noted that he doesn’t see a problem because if there are no rules broken in the process, then everything works fine.
“The only problem will be that somebody will think somebody has a huge following and therefore cannot compete. Then that is a different story. We expect that person to back off and give way to those who have the courage to contest.”
Dr Kwame Asah-Asante
Dr Asah-Asante expressed that the process is a democratic one and everybody is encouraged to contest.
Elsewhere, Dr Asah-Asante iterated that the 2024 flagbearer ticket of the NDC is John Dramani Mahama’s for the taking. He however, indicated that the contenders also have their achievements in their own rights but since politics is a referendum of one’s work in addition to the contest of ideas, they have no works to show for in the party.
Dr Asah-Asante’s comments followed Mr Mahama’s backing by all Regional Chairmen of the NDC and his former contender, Joshua Alabi, who reckoned he stands tall among all the candidates and must be given the nod to lead the party in the 2024 general elections.
Also, the Dean of Regional Chairmen of the NDC, John Kwadwo Gyapong, stated that John Mahama has the full support of the party, and are ready to make sure he wins the presidential election.
NPP unfazed by John Mahama’s decision to run for President
Meanwhile, the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has disclosed that it is unfazed about the decision of former President John Dramani Mahama to run for President in the 2024 general elections.
Director of Communications for the NPP, Richard Ahiagbah, stated that the party is not worried about a man who has no track record to show for his days as President of the country.
“We have beaten him twice, so you just conclude for yourself if we are afraid of him. It is all mathematical, and we have defeated him twice. He is even afraid to plainly declare whether he is going to contest or not. We are ready for him.”
Richard Ahiagbah
Mr. Ahiagbah highlighted that the NPP is currently only worried about how to improve Ghana’s economy and is not bothered about John Mahama, who they are certain of beating.
“We are interested in how we can build our economy, and we want to know whether he has the solution because we saw him vanquish the gains that he got, and we saw him collapse our economy and banking sector. He doesn’t have what it takes to improve Ghana because if he had what it took to do that, he wouldn’t have vanquished our economic gains and taken us to the IMF.”
Richard Ahiagbah
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