Upper East Regional Communication Officer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Abdallah Jonathan Salifu has made a strong case for the election of former president, John Dramani Mahama as flagbearer of the party.
Speaking on the State of Our Nation, Mr. Jonathan said the opposition party will be risking its chances of tasting power again in the 2024 polls if it presents a candidate other than the former president.
“This is not the time to do and a trial and error. This is the time we must look for a more experienced and at least, somebody whose name is a household name in Ghana to fight in 2024. You don’t go and bring someone whom you’re now yet to market,” he stated.
John Dramani Mahama, who has led the party 3 times and lost on two occasions, is being challenged by two persons, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor and Kojo Bonsu in his 4th bid for the party’s leadership.
Aside the fact that the two other aspirants are not seen to have toiled a lot in their bid for the higher office of the land and thus, are unlikely to win sympathy votes, they are not well known beyond the TV screens, Mr. Abdallah Jonathan argued.
He cited an instance in the Builsa South Constituency when Dr. Kwabena Duffuor’s name was mentioned at a drinking spot and a resident, who appeared to have not heard such a name before, sought to find out if Duffuor was some kind of beverage to back his position.
“When we went to Builsa South yesterday, somebody went into a bar, looking for water to buy and there was a conversation and somebody raised a concern about the party bigwigs and executives supporting John Mahama. (And when he mentioned Duffuor’s name, someone was) like who is Duffuor, what kind of drink is that?
The person thought it was a drink. So they’re known probably on television, on radio but when you get to the grassroots, when you get to the constituencies, the branches, they are not known”.
The NDC’s Regional Communication Officer believes the party will have a hard time marketing any other candidate and could lose sympathy votes should it fail to present its former flagbearer again for the 2024 Elections.
“To market a presidential candidate, it takes years. That’s why mostly you don’t see a presidential candidate come the first time and win. So it’s always difficult. They have to see you in the course of the struggle, they have to appreciate your efforts. They have to appreciate all that you’ve been doing and all that,” he argued.
The opposition party has scheduled May 13, 2023 to conduct its presidential and parliamentary primaries.
But that appears to be limbo now following a decision by the Electoral Commission (EC) not to conduct the party’s internal elections as scheduled if a lawsuit Dr. Duffuor has filed, seeking to halt the process is not addressed.
The aspirant raised concerns with the voters register compiled by the party for the conduct of the primaries and proceeded to file a suit, asking the court to halt the elections until his concerns are addressed.
At a meeting today ahead of the D-day on Saturday, the EC told the party that it will not conduct the election unless the legal suit is addressed.
