One of Ghana’s astute parliamentarians, Dr. Richard Winfred Anane, has given an indication he may put himself up for consideration as the next leader of the New Patriotic Party with a view to becoming the country’s president.
Dr. Anane whose name came up in 2014 as one of the NPP bigwigs nursing ambitions at the time to contest the flagbearship of the party for the 2016 elections, told Ghanaians Wednesday to “wait and see” his next political move when asked if he still have the dream of leading the party into elections.
Touching on his political career on Accra-based 3FM 92.7 Wednesday, Dr. Anane declined to give a clear answer to a question on his presidential ambition, but gave a hint of the possibility of contesting the flagbearership. For the 63-year-old medical doctor, it is important for the NPP to be placed in the best position before such decision could be taken.
When asked on Accra-based 3FM, whether he still wants to lead the party as rumoured in 2014, he responded: “Let us wait and see, the most important thing today is for my party to deliver on its promises” to make sure that the NPP is in a good state.
“If your party is not seen to be in the best of state for the nation, you go in there, the people [electorates] will say oh but your people [NPP] didn’t do well. So what we need to do today is to make sure your party is in the best of state,” he suggested.
Dr. Anane served as the member of parliament for Nhyiaeso in the Ashanti Region for two decades during which he was given the opportunity to serve as Health Minister and Minister of Roads and Transport in the administration of former president John Kufuor
In June 2015, he lost the bid to represent the constituency in the December 7 general elections. He lost the NPP Nyiaeso primary to Kennedy Kankam who polled 247 votes.
Dr. Anane secured 110 votes. Not quitting politics Asked Wednesday whether the defeat brought an end to his political career, he said he has moved with a lot of seasoned politicians and has learnt that in politics “there are some things you don’t say.“I have moved with a lot of our people and very, very old ones as well and I said even at the point of death they were still politicians,” he added.
On whether he would consider re-running for the parliamentary seat in the next election, he responded, “Let’s see how things turn out”.
When pressed further as to whether he is giving that a though, he said: “yeah you can only give it a thought”.