The Tema West Constituency Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dennis Amfo-Sefa, has ‘ordered’ former President John Dramani Mahama to man up and contest for the flagbearership of the opposition National Democratic Congress.
In an exclusive interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra, Mr Amfo-Sefa who is popularly known as Nana Boakye, said the ‘order’ was a direct call on the former President to break out of his indecision on whether he should retire from politics or continue.
“Mahama is obviously confused about his future, that is why he told his family to come and tell all of us in 2017 that he was retiring from politics and yet today he is having second thoughts.
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“I am ‘ordering’ him to rise above his own confusion and run to lead the NDC so that in 2020, he will be beaten once and for all and therefore be clear in his mind that Ghanaians have really rejected him forever,” Nana Boakye said.
The NPP Constituency Chairman made it clear that he was not joking about the order to Mahama and had conducted an opinion poll within the ruling party about which NDC Presidential Candidate that the NPP executives would be more motivated to campaign against and Mahama came up tops.
He said the current upheaval within the NPP, including a strike embarked on by the party’s communicators in the Ashanti region, expression of disquiet by Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah to the effect that the NPP had eroded most of its goodwill and could lose to the NDC in 2020 had left many worried.
However, in their worry, Nana Boakye confirmed that party executives were still hopeful that former President Mahama would be made flagbearer to lead the NDC into the 2020 election because Mahama would be very easy to beat.
“Mr Mahama is still viewed by many as carrying ill-will he incurred for himself in 2016.”
He said many supporters and loyalists of the NDC had still not moved on from neglect that they suffered under the Presidency of Mahama and were therefore skeptical about Mahama leading the party again.
Mr Amfo-Sefah said many supporters in the NDC’s stronghold, Volta were also known to be suspicious of a Mahama leadership again and were likely to repeat massive voter apathy that was demonstrated in the 2016 election.
“Already, party Founder, Jerry Rawlings has made it clear that he does not like former President Mahama and would therefore not campaign for the NDC if Mahama is elected flagbearer. The NPP will exploit this division if Mahama becomes flagbearer.”
He said apart from that, the NPP had already succeeded in branding the former President as corrupt and incompetent and would only need to rehash his past track record to turn voters against him in 2020 just like they succeeded in doing in 2016.
“Mahama must run at all cost so that he can be retired in 2020,” Nana Boakye said, adding, “I am ordering him to run for President if he is a man.”