“Notwithstanding my personal relationship with former President John Dramani Mahama, I am coming for the Presidency,” the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban Kinsford Sumani Bagbin, has declared.
“Like former President Mahama, I also have personal ties with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo but I am equally ready to contest and win the 2020 polls,” the veteran politician stated.
According to the leading National Democratic Congress (NDC) member in an interview in Accra recently, both President Akufo-Addo and former President Mahama know him as one who does not hide his feelings.
“I am very disappointed in both leaders for failing to promote inclusiveness and the culture of tolerance where Ghanaians will live in peace with one another irrespective of party affiliations.
“They don’t seem to like the Presidency, so I am coming for it to change the status quo we find ourselves in,’’ he told the Daily Graphic.
“Whether John Dramani Mahama contests the NDC flagbearership or not for the 2020 election, I am also going to contest,” he strongly indicated.
According to Mr Bagbin, “We are all a unique creation of God and each of us have something to offer. So let the citizenry make a decision.”
He, therefore, advised party members not to be cowed into submission when the time to choose a flag bearer for the party come, but they should assess critically all the candidates and make a deliberate decision to move the party forward.
‘’If you have a party that does not criticise itself, then it is a dead party,” he warned NDC members.
He said party members must not show timidity but come out boldly to declare their stance since that is what democracy is all about.
In democracy, Mr Bagbin believed that “the people’s interest must be paramount”.
Motivation
Mr Bagbin said he was not in politics for his selfish interest but to serve the people he represented in truth, honesty and humility.
He also urged NDC members to come out with their views and perspectives on issues concerning the nation and the party.
“There is everything good about diversity so when you hold back, you deny the people and society the benefits of multi-party democracy and the goodness the Almighty God had sown in us,” he stated.
I am coming for the presidency – Bagbin
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