[ 2017-05-03 ]

Former President John Mahama and Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin

Alban Bagbin, Joshua Alabi, others 'fight' Mahama for NDC 2020 race
It appears former President John Dramani Mahama
will not be given the chance to stand as the
presidential candidate of the opposition National
Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2020 election
without any challenge.

Ahead of the party’s primary, former majority
leader and current 2nd deputy speaker of
parliament, Alban Bagbin, is emerging as one of
the former president’s contenders.

Posters of Bagbin, the Nadowli/Kaleo Member of
Parliament (MP), are already playing out in the
social media, possibly testing the waters, even
though he is said to be enjoying support from his
colleague NDC MPs.

Posters that have popped up on social media,
especially Facebook, have the image of the Nadowli
MP with the inscription, ‘Bagbin 2020’.

The posters bear the slogan, ‘Tried, Tested &
Committed.’

Mr Bagbin has not hidden his ambition to lead the
NDC as he recently indicated on Joy FM that it has
been his dream to be the President of Ghana.

He was emphatic, “Nobody can prevent change…it
is constant so when it comes it is important to
take advantage of it.”

The former majority leader was a strong critic of
Mr John Mahama over his style of governance.

The MP said in November 2013 that then President
Mahama was “naked” because of the kind of
people he had surrounded himself with.

He said he was “deeply worried” about the way
the country was being governed, adding that he had
for far too long “complained in silence” about
raging corruption under Mahama’s leadership.

A retired Rector of the University of Professional
Studies Accra (UPSA), Joshua Alabi, is also
reportedly lacing his boots to declare his
intention to stand for the nomination in possible
opposition to John Dramani Mahama’s bland
popularity, it has been revealed.

Former Greater Accra Regional Minister under the
Rawlings government, Joshua Alabi is said to be
enjoying popular support from NDC kingpins and
power brokers to become the next flag bearer for
the main opposition party.

More Names

Apart from Prof. Alabi, there are a host of NDC
stalwarts who are all planning to upstage
ex-President Mahama as the NDC’s flag bearer for
2020 because many claim he does not have what it
takes to run for the highest office again, after
his abysmal performance in the last election that
culminated in his and the party’s humiliating
defeat.

They include longstanding NDC flag bearer aspirant
and former Minister of Trade and Industry, Ekwow
Spio-Garbrah; former Speaker of Parliament, Edward
Doe Adjaho and former National Health Insurance
Scheme (NHIS) CEO, Sylvester Mensah, who was
recently seen meeting NDC members at Sogakope.

They are said to be busily setting up offices and
criss-crossing the country to shore up their
support bases ahead of the crucial NDC congress,
likely coming off next year.

13-Member Committee

Interestingly, the 13-member committee chaired by
Prof Kwesi Botchwey, which was tasked by the
party’s leadership to investigate why the NDC
lost the December 7 contest to then opposition
NPP, is yet to submit its report.

The committee, which meetings have been fraught
with agitations from the party’s foot soldiers
– often turning violent – was recently given
an extended time to conclude and submit its
report.

Mahama Puzzle

Some political analysts are of the opinion that
should ex-President Mahama succeed in contesting
on the ticket of the NDC again but fail to win the
2020 contest, it will further break the front of
the opposition party because they will then have
to struggle to market a candidate for 2024.

Others also believe that since President Mahama
was humiliated in the December 7, 2016 polls,
there was going to be very little chance for him
in 2020 when there is no incumbency advantage.

One of Alabi’s cheerleaders, Nii Amasa Namoale
– a former NDC Member of Parliament for La
Dadekotopon and one-time Deputy Minister of
Agriculture in-charge of Fisheries – has
suggested that the internal party election would
be a good showing for the academician.

Amasa Namoale, who has himself not hidden his
ambition to run for the NDC flagbearership slot,
recently said on Peace Fm that he would give
anybody, including immediate past President
Mahama, run for his money if Joshua Alabi fails to
stake a claim for the slot.

He believes the former Rector who has specialised
in Marketing, has the technique and the magic wand
to turn around the fortunes of the “lame
horse” political party as recently described by
the former president when meeting the appointees
who served under his presidency for the first
time.

He said the image of the ruling party – the New
Patriotic Party (NPP) – is soaring because of
its flagship policies of free education and
‘one-district-one-factory,’ ‘one village one
dam,’ $1m for each constituency, the Zongo
Development Fund, among others.

Lame Horse

Former President John Dramani Mahama recently
called for a careful re-organisation and
assessment of the NDC after the party’s crushing
defeat in the 2016 general election, admitting
that the former ruling party was sick as he
likened it to a ‘lame horse.’

For him, it is absolutely premature for members of
the NDC to talk about who will lead the party at
its present state, positing, “If you ride a lame
horse into a race and you lose the race, your
priority must be to cure the lameness of the horse
and not about who will ride the horse.”

But before this assertion, some bleating flock of
political shenanigans had proclaimed Mr Mahama the
best choice and served notice of their readiness
to push the man to the NDC’s torchbearer
position once again to wrestle power from
President Akufo-Addo.

However, critics within the NDC are saying that
the party has never been lame and insisted that it
was the Jockey (in reference to the ex-president
as NDC candidate) who was rather lame.

Source - dailyguideafrica.com

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