The main opposition National Democratic Congress(NDC) predicted a Bawumia/Napo ticket in June 2023 for the 2024 general election, when the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) had not yet conducted its first round of presidential primaries.
A detailed report titled “Strategic Choice of a Running Mate (The NPP in Focus),” dated in June 2023 dwelt on NPP’s dilemma of choosing a flag bearer and the implications for the NDC.
The well-researched report, which THE CUSTODIAN has sighted, predicted the high possibility of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia becoming the choice of NPP who was also most likely to pick a running mate from the Ashanti region.
According to the report, “the focus is on who to partner Dr. Mahmud Bawumia going into the elections . Strategically, the NPP has no option than to look to Ashanti Region (their stronghold) for a candidate.”
The research then focused on four leading members of the NPP, all of whom are Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Ashanti Region.
In assessing first Deputy Speaker, Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu; then Majority Leader and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensa-Bonsu; Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum; and Minister for Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh also known as Napo, the NDC search team applied their own criteria to determine and predict who was likely to become the Running Mate of Dr. Bawumia.
The criteria included, “Grassroots mobilization,
Resources, General appeal and acceptability,
Unity, Ability to attract the opposition, Status in relation to scandals or corruption issues,
Trust/Credibility.”
According the report, “the team went to all the 16 regions and covered 245 Constituencies. The team spoke to 150 people in each of the 245 Constituencies.”
The outcome, according to the NDC and the United Cadre Front, “Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh is seen as the overwhelming contender for the running mate slot.”
They concluded that “over 80% of the respondents scored him an average of 8 out of 10 in all the criteria applied.”
In what they termed, “Key Take Aways”, “The Threat” and “Recommendations,” very interesting, revealing and dangerous information was provided by the research team.
THE CUSTODIAN will publish more details about the research report in due course.
