Ghana’s longest-serving Finance minister Prof Kwesi Botchwey has been told to back off the race for the 2020 flagbearer of the opposition party.

“What the NDC knows is John Mahama”, NDC Central Regional chairman Allotey Jacobs said.

Prof. Kwesi Botchwey is yet to officially declare his intention to contest for flagbearer even though he has been rumoured to be lacing his boots for the race.

The clearest indication was given in a press statement after a Myjoyonline.com story said he had picked nomination forms for the position of National Chairman.

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Acting through a spokesperson, he quickly denied picking forms and lambasted “faceless persons” who are “desperate, wicked, and devious with the intent of portraying him as inconsistent with his decisions”.

Prof. Botchwey whose last electoral contest came in 2002 in a flagbearer race has said he will announce his intentions in the coming days.

But launching a pre-emptive strike on Accra-based Peace FM Wednesday, Allotey Jacobs said “what I will tell Prof. Kwesi Botchwey is, back off!”

He said the time for the Central region is over, indicating Prof. Mills’ feat will not be emulated in the 2020 race.

Prof. Mills who hails from the Central region, a swing region in national elections, won the NDC flagbearer race in 2002 and 2006 and went on to win the 2008 presidential elections.

But he died whiles in office in July 2012 and was replaced by John Mahama. As a tribute to the Central region’s political contributions to the NDC,  an indigene from the region Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur was chosen as Vice-President.

But the NDC lost the 2016 general elections and the country also lost the former Vice-President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur suddenly.

The Central region fell to the NPP after the NDC won only four out of 23 seats in the region, losing 12 seats they held.

An expected Kwesi Botchwey entrance could change this.

But Allotey Jacobs said Prof. Kwesi Botchwey “cannot have his cake and eat it”, referring to his attempt to gain an unfair advantage in the 2020 race.

Prof. Botchwey headed a 13-member committee tasked to investigate the NDC’s abysmal performance in the 2016 general elections.

“Prof Botchwey is highly respected in the NDC as well as by the general public”, Mr. Jacobs conceded.

If President Jerry Rawlings’ first Finance minister confirms his interest, he looks set to use this background and considerable information to his advantage.

Allotey Jacobs said he would have wished Prof. Kwesi Botchwey would wait to serve as head of the Economic Management Team under a future Mahama government.

The head of the EMT has always been a Vice-President. Allotey Jacobs said he expected Prof. Botchwey who served 13 years as Finance minister would serve on committees to design the NDC’s economic plans ahead of the 2020 elections.

“That is where we need Prof. Kwesi Botchwey to make a very good input,” he said.

Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt has urged Ghanaians, especially the media to display a high level of decorum in discusiing the issues involving Ghana Football Association, (GFA), president, Kwesi Nyantakyi.

According to him, it is important not to try Mr. Nyantakyi in the media and rather allow the laws of the country to take its course.

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“This issue is very interesting but very sensitive and therefore it is important that we observe some decorum and not run him down totally, in the media, and allow the laws to deal with this matter,” he said.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has reported the President of the Ghana Football Association to the police over what they says is “defrauding by false pretense” after watching a video documentary by investigative journalist, Anas Aremaeyaw Anas, in which Mr Nyantakyi is allegedly captured engaging in some influence peddling, using the name of the president.

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But reacting to the issue, Mr. Pratt urged the media to be circumspect and not to rush and prosecute Mr Nyantakyi.

He wondered why the President’s move was directed at only Mr Nyantakyi if he (Nana Addo) benefited fully from the video documentary.

“If the president has had the benefit of watching the whole video then why is the arrest directed at only Kwesi Nyantakyi. I think it may be possible that this could be the first directive from the president and others may follow so let’s wait for the man to touch down.

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“Ghanaians and the media should not try him; we must allow the laws of the country to deal with the matter”, he said on Accra-based Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana show on Wednesday.

Kwesi Pratt further advised the police to be professional and handle the matter transparently without any political interference.

“We ought to be interested in the facts. Every Ghanaian must know how monies are used, especially in football and must be well-informed on the progress of the matter. This should not become part of NDC, NPP battle. Matters should not be leaked to selected media houses and things need to be handled in a transparent manner,” he said.

“So many things have gone through my mind and one thing I keep asking myself is what if Nyantakyi was bluffing or hyping in order to get the attention of the investors”, he quizzed.

Mr. Nyantakyi has arrived in the country from Morrocco via an Ethiopian Airlines flight, according to reports, and is expected to be escorted by security agencies who were waiting for him at the Kotoka International Airport.

The 13-member Kwesi Botchwey Committee constituted and mandated to investigate the causes of the party’s defeat in the 2016 elections presented its report to the leadership of the party in June this year.

The report has since been kept under lock and key with party leadership stating their unpreparedness to release the contents of the report to the public.

Some media houses have reportedly obtained copies of the report and have started serialising its contents.

One of the stories from the leaked report stated that the party was divided two years ahead of the crucial 2016 elections as some defeated party executives adopted a laid-back attitude, while others worked against the party.

This and other reports being attributed to the Kwesi Botchway Committee, the Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, George Lawson said are untrue indicating that the report is strictly under ‘lock and key’.

The numerous reports, he claimed are the fabrications of some faceless people who are setting an agenda to divert the public’s attention from matters arising in the country.

“It is not true. If you want, call Prof Botchway himself. This is just to divert attention. The report will never come to the public domain. It is not for public consumption…,” he insisted.

He however recalled how the Democratic Party in USA after losing to the Republican Party in 2016 conducted similar investigations.

This report, he said, was never made public and hence he could not fathom why people can’t comprehend that the Kwesi Botchway report is solely for the NDC party.

“The report is for the NDC and not for the public. If it were so we would have. Democrats have done the same and it was not out.  It is just to divert attention…,” he said on Accra based Neat FM.