Mahama’s Running Mate: NDC Refusing to Think

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) is in a quagmire because the party is refusing to do things in a manner that would benefit it, going into the 2020 elections.

Political drama, personality clash, competition of agendas, and raging turf wars are destroying the NDC and those in the party who ought to know better are the very people involved in the dirty game.

The party is so much engrossed in self-destruction that it is refusing to acknowledge that power dynamics and unwritten rules exist for the betterment of the party.

The self-destructive button was pressed just months after the party lost the 2016 elections under circumstances that could best be described as nauseating.

Instead of doing serious self-assessment and fixing the broken joints, the doors of the NDC are ajar to the extent that even Student Representative Councils in Senior Secondary Schools are better organized than the entity that could boast of heavyweights in Ghana’s political landscape.

Certain elements within the umbrella family feel that it is when they become power grabbers or political climbers that they would be recognized in the family, when indeed such thinking was nothing but a figment of their imagination.

Being the party that made the then opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) to shred its integrity and credibility with numerous false corruption allegations, it is expected that it would behave in a certain direction that would help in restoring its credibility and image. But that has not been the case because of selfish agenda coupled with greed.

The NDC has refused to do critical thinking not because the party lacks critical thinkers but because the party is fast losing its bearing.

Forces that have to be truthful and display sincerity and honesty have allowed themselves to be led by money and other goodies that come with power.

In all these, the NDC is playing the ostrich game and doing things as if everything is in order going into 2020 with the NPP as the incumbent.

First, the NDC as a party shot itself in the foot by allowing some Members of Parliament (MPs) who were alleged to have received double salaries to contest in the primaries to become Parliamentary candidates for 2020.

The matter is still pending and the government knowing what is at stake this year, through the Attorney General’s Department, can bring up the case anytime and play it to its advantage.

What it means is that those candidates would be battling the matter in court and could hardly make time to campaign for the elections.

What is amazing is the fact that some of the MPs caught in the double salary saga were mentioned as potential running-mate of Candidate John Dramani Mahama, creating the impression that the NDC lacks people for the running-mate position.

The running-mate issue itself has been reduced to comedy, as it is being treated like one of those political issues.

Whoever partners a candidate for Presidential election is very crucial and that is what the hawks in the NDC are forgetting.

So disgusting are certain names that have come as likely people to partner John Mahama that political observers and opponents of the NDC are making fun of the candidate and the party.

The NPP knowing what it is about has been fixing pressure on the NDC presidential candidate to name his running-mate quickly.

The truth of the matter is that some of the names that are making the rounds as likely running-mates have been pencilled down for investigations and prosecution by the NPP administration.

How would Ghanaians take the NDC should a running-mate be named today, and tomorrow that person is up for investigations and possible prosecution?

The whole running-mate thing, which is the sole prerogative of the candidate, has become a cash cow for some top party people.

What such dishonest people are doing is that they collect money from others to hype them as people who could not be bypassed by Candidate Mahama as he searches for his running-mate.

The party that used age as a campaign tool against the then Candidate Akufo-Addo now has certain persons who are older becoming interested in having the running-mate slot.
Media hirelings have been engaged to run people down and promote the interest of certain persons in the manner that they would be seen as the frontrunners in the exercise.

There have been series of articles on various persons within the corridors of the party. The tone of some of the articles is purposely to run some persons down, something that does not augur well for the party.

Presently, attention is in the Ashanti Region where the Ashanti Regional Caucus is staking a huge claim in the running-mate.

Certain names that have come up from the regions and being pushed by the caucus are very interesting because some of them have not even checked themselves to know whether they are material for running-mate or not.

Those persons mentioned have issues that bother on investigations by the country’s anti-graft agencies and they are likely to be harassed by the NPP just to shred the credibility of the NDC.

Some of the names that have come up include Mr. Kwabena Duffuor, former Finance Minister; Mr. Samuel Sarpong, former Ashanti Regional Minister; Mr. Kwame Awuah-Darko, former TOR and BOST boss, Mr. Kojo Bonsu, former Kumasi Mayor and a host of others.

It is important for the NDC and those pushing for some of the persons to be wiser and think about the overall interest of the numerous members, supporters and sympathizers of the party and stop pursuing their own interests.

Almost all the names coming from the Ashanti Region are suspect and they must be checked because the integrity and credibility is as stake.

The NPP would pounce on them and make mince of the NDC should anyone who had been questioned by the anti-graft agencies be picked by Mr. Mahama as his running-mate.

Mr. Mahama should not allow anyone to hoodwink him into making a wrong decision. He should get someone who comes to the table with credibility and integrity to make the ticket overly attractive for Ghanaians to buy into it.

Source: The Inquisitor