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Four months from now, on December 7, 2018, aspirants vying for the flag bearer slot of the leading opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), will be engrossed in a toe-to-toe fight for honours before a teeming national delegates' congress scheduled to meet before the end of 2018.

Four months from now, on December 7, 2018, aspirants vying for the flag bearer slot of the leading opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), will be engrossed in a toe-to-toe fight for honours before a teeming national delegates' congress scheduled to meet before the end of 2018.

The NDC has, however, disclosed that it has officially slated December 7, 2018, for the election of its flag bearer for the 2020 presidential election.

Thunderbolt

Ahead of the congress and with Ambassador Victor Gbeho dropping a bolt from the blue, delegates have been asked to vote for a man of integrity and not a failure as in former President John Dramani Mahama, in spite of a whopping number of MPs who are openly supporting former President John Mahama's bid. 

Significantly, Professor Kwesi Botchwey has had his name missing from the list of honours that the NDC General Secretary released in his statement.

Addressing the press at the party’s headquarters in Accra yesterday, General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia said the date is in line with what their constitution proposes.

Asiedu Nketia also disclosed that about five leading members of the NDC have so far declared their intention to contest as flag bearers of the party ahead of the 2020 polls, with indications that a few more names are likely to drop as contenders before the December 7. 

Aspirants 

According to the NDC scribe, aspirants who have so confirmed interest are Ekow Spio Garbah, a former Trades and Industry Minister under the John Mahama government; Former Vice Chancellor of the University for Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Joshua Alabi, and Member of Parliament for Nadowli-Kaleo, Alban Bagbin.

Nominations

The NDC opened nominations for the regional positions on Monday, July 16th to 18th July, 2018, indicating that vetting of the aspirants will be done between August 1 and 6th 2018. This was after the party elected its constituency executives in June 2018.

The election of national officers will follow in that order before a presidential candidate is picked on December 7, 2018.

Former MP for La Dadekotopon, Nii Amasah Namoale, avid supporter of the Joshua Alabi ticket, has meanwhile asked that processes be aligned, including public filing of nominees and an officially-vetted aspirants list soonest. 

Explaining why the NDC should dump Mahama, former Diplomat, James Victor Gbeho, instead urged the NDC to go for Prof. Joshua Alabi, saying after consultations he and former Deputy Speaker Ken Dzirasah had with some influential persons, “we agreed that our best hope was in no other person than Professor Joshua Alabi.”

Alabi is a cadre

According to Ambassador Gbeho, a former Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Alabi himself, has been a member of the vehicle that the June 4, 1979 “Revolution brought to take the country forward," is well known among the base of the party and represents a credible image for the NDC.

Additionally, the former Diplomat indicated, Alabi has served in many capacities, Minister, regional Chairman, Chairman of Boards, and so forth…” And he is in contact with people who know Ghana well abroad and who would cherish the opportunity to work with us on the Socialist International level.”

Concluding, Victor Gbeho cautioned: “So let us just not follow somebody because he looks nice. Joshua Alabi has proven to us that he is somebody who can manage things. Regional Minister, Chairman of Boards and even the university he went into, IPS, as an institute, but today, it is an enviable university which no other university can compare,” the former Foreign Minister reiterated.