Edudzi Tamakloe, an aide to former President John Dramani Mahama, has said that the 2020 flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is the obvious choice for the party going into the 2024 elections.
According to him, the NDC would not risk putting up a new candidate in a bid to experiment with their chances of returning to power.
Speaking on Metro TV programme, Good Morning Ghana, Mr. Tamakloe stated that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will have no choice than to front either Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia or Trade and Industry Ministry Alan Kyerematen – both of whom have never stood for a national election.
He added that John Mahama has stood in national elections and has already been marketed to the electorates. Giving an analogy of colored television and the black and white version, the lawyer said: “we will not, as it were, leave our color TV and say we want to do an experiment with our black and white TV”.
Mr. Edudzi Tamakloe was reacting to an EIU report which said the NDC should put forward a new flagbearer besides John Mahama to revitalize it chances of winning the 2024 elections.
“If you put these two together [Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and Alan Kyerematen] and you put them on a ballot paper. This will be their first time for any elections. Now come to think of the NDC and in the case of H.E John Dramani Mahama, it’s not a matter opened up for debate.
“All that we pray for is God to grant him long life and good health. The person who has had the benefit of contesting in any elections nationally, he had appeared on ballot paper, you say ‘look, jettison this one and go for a ‘fresh’ candidate.
“With the greatest of respect to the London research think tank, even for a researcher, you start from the known to the unknown. I’m yet to see a proper social scientist start a conversation from the unknown to the known.
“Often times you start from the known to the unknown. If this is anything to go by, you want a candidate who is nationally marketed, a candidate who in the midst of the militarization of our electoral process in the 2020 elections, arguably pulled over 6.2 million votes, and you say go for someone who has never appeared on a national poll before…I mean we won’t take that risk,” he said.
The EIU in its report observed that the NDC, which stands a great chance of upending the party, should change John Mahama to increase their chances further.
“The next parliamentary and presidential elections are due in 2024. Under constitutionally mandated term limits, the incumbent President Akufo-Addo, cannot run for a third term .The former president, John Mahama, is reportedly considering running again, but we expect the opposition NDC to try to revitalize its prospects with a fresh candidate.
“Our [EIU] baseline forecast is that ongoing public dissatisfaction with the slow pace of improvements in governance—such as infrastructure development, job creation and easing of corruption—will trigger anti-incumbency factors and push the electorate to seek a change,” the report emphasized.
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