Former President John Dramani Mahama will lead the opposition National Democratic Congress into the 2024 general election after securing a landslide victory in party’s lopsided presidential primaries.
Mr. Mahama, a one-term president, suffered a humiliating defeat in 2016 as the first vanquished Ghanaian sitting president and again lost in the 2020 presidential election.
Notwithstanding the two successive defeats, a total of 297,603 NDC delegates representing 98.9%, reposed confidence in the former president in the party’s primaries held on Saturday, May 13, 2023,
His only contender, Mr. Kojo Bonsu managed to poll 3,181, representing 1.1% of the total valid votes cast.
The result was only 1% less than the 99.9% that the campaign team of former President Mahama had earlier predicted.
Declaration of results by the Electoral Commission’s returning officer was done in the wee hours of Sunday, May 14.
Earlier, Kojo Bonsu congratulated Mr. Mahama for winning the primaries.
In a Facebook post, the former Kumasi Mayor disclosed that he had placed a call to the former President to congratulate him on his victory.
Former President Mahama was going into the contest with former Bank of Ghana (BoG) Governor, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor and former Kumasi Mayor, Kojo Bonsu.
However, Dr. Duffuor pulled out of the race after indicating there were widespread discrepancies with the party’s electoral roll, which were not resolved.
“I wish to reiterate my commitment to the party and its grassroots. However, my concerns that the party is not ready to conduct free and fair election is evident for all to see.
“Taking part in such would be akin to knowingly drinking from a poisoned calabash,” Dr. Duffuor stated at a news conference on Friday.
Mahama’s profile
Mr. Mahama served as Vice President from January 2009 to July 2012, and took over as president in accordance with law on July 24, 2012, following the death of his boss Prof. John Evans Atta Mills.
He went on to win the December 2012 election and served as President for one four-year term.
Mr. Mahama was unsuccessful in his re-election bid in 2016 and 2020 after he was defeated by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
He was a Member of Parliament for Bole Bamboi from 1997 to 2009 and served as Deputy Minister for Communication between 1997 and 1998 before becoming the substantive Minister for Communications in 1998.
