A former National Communications Officer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Solomon Nkansah has questioned the popularity of the party’s 2020 presidential candidate ahead of the next general election.
According to him, former President John Dramani Mahama is not as popular as his loyalists are touting as he has lost miserably in two consecutive elections in the country on the ticket of the main opposition party.
Even though the former President has been described by some members of the NDC as the party’s presumptive flagbearer based on his popularity, the former national communications officer stated emphatically that the brand of two-time defeated candidate is fast deteriorating and will not be bought by Ghanaians.
Some adherents of Mr. Mahama have called on other presidential aspirants to step down and allow the former President to go unopposed in the opposition party’s presidential primaries due to what they describe as his overwhelming popularity, insisting that the NDC needs him to win power more than he needs the party.
However, Mr. Solomon Nkansah who is part of the Dr Kwabena Duffuor campaign team challenged the former president to leave the NDC and contest as an independent candidate if he is that popular.
“It is the NDC that is popular than any individual within the party. No individual who is a member of the party is more popular.
“Jerry Rawlings who is the founder of the party led the campaign of late President Mills but the NDC still lost. If he was that popular, he could have led the party to power.
“He should go independent. If he is popular than the party, he should go independent and let’s see,” Solomon Nkansah stated on Top FM’s Final Point talk show.
Presidential aspirants
Four persons picked up forms to contest in the NDC’s presidential primaries on May 13, 2023 at the at the close of nominations on Friday, February 23, 2023.
They are former President Mahama, business mogul and former Governor of Bank of Ghana as well Minister for Finance Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, former Kumasi Mayor Kojo Bonsu and businessman Ernest Kwaku Kobeah.
Among the contestants, Mr. Solomon Nkansah argued Dr. Duffuor is the ideal candidate to win power for NDC in the 2024 general election.
‘Mahama has nothing to offer’
Mr. Solomon Nkansah has reiterated that former President Mahama has nothing good to offer again after leading the party into opposition for two consecutive times.
He has therefore urged NDC delegates to elect Dr. Duffuor in the upcoming presidential primaries.
Speaking on Accra-based Okay FM, the former National Communications Officer averred that the ex-president cannot be the best choice to lead the umbrella party because the current economic crises require a financial specialist to clean up the mess created.
“Ghanaians will see that is about time that they will see a candidate who will be outstanding in all political parties.
“Whether NPP or NDC and they will realise that this is the time that the master of the game (Dr. Kwabena Duffuor) has come. Where Ghana stands now, it is about financial issues coupled with mismanagement that has brought us to this crisis.
“And when you trace Dr Kwabena Duffuor’s past records, he is the only NDC finance minister who maintained the Ghanaian cedi to the rate of GH¢1.68 pesewas to the dollar.
“So, people need to realize that, where the NDC party has gotten to, it shouldn’t be about whom they support but rather someone who can manage the economy better.
“There was a candidate who was running mate in 2008 (John Mahama). He became a flagbearer in 2012, which is called progress.
“In 2016, he lost which is also called a product decline, and in 2020 he lost again which is another product decline. And the last elections in 2020, we later realized that 118 NDC parliamentary candidates had more votes than the presidential candidates. just look at this”, Mr. Solomon Nkansah pointed out in Akan dialect, Twi.
