Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Friday, March 10, 2017
Posters indicating a
possible return of ex-President John Mahama for the 2020 elections are
surfacing.
The poster displays a
beautiful picture of the ex-president wearing a black and white smock with the inscription,
“John Mahama for President 2020”and an additional message underneath the
opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) umbrella logo which reads, “Still
Changing Lives…Still Transforming Ghana.”
Dubai Trip
President Mahama
reportedly jetted out to Dubai immediately after attending the 60th
independence anniversary national parade at the Independence Square, Accra, on
Monday where he celebrated his wife, Lordina’s 54th birthday with
their children using a red colour.
It is however, unclear who
might be behind the posters, as the former president has not also made any
official statement announcing a comeback or otherwise.
But his spokesperson, Joyce Bawa-Mogtari, says
talks over whether or not John Mahama would make a comeback to lead the NDC in the
2020 general election after sending it to opposition were not over.
According
to Ms. Bawa-Mogtari who was the campaign spokesperson for the John Mahama 2016
campaign team, the former president still receives numerous calls from
high-ranking party members persuading him to soften his earlier stance which
suggested that family members had advised him against leading the NDC in 2020.
She told pro-NDC
Radio Gold on
Wednesday that the former president constantly ignores discussions of his
possible return to active politics and that he is yet to make up his mind.
Bawa-Mogtari, a former deputy transport minister
under the Mahama regime, indicated that she is for ‘Mahama 2020.’
‘Thank You’ Tour
There are unconfirmed
reports that the former president is going to embark on a ‘Thank You’ tour
nationwide when he returns from Dubai.
Some party sources have
said he is going to use the tour to ‘test’ his popularity and make a final
determination on whether he would contest for the NDC in 2020.
DAILY GUIDE learnt that the tour could be undertaken with party
people and some opinion leaders coerced to openly canvass for his return to
form the basis for his declaration to contest the 2020 polls.
He had wanted to embark on
the ‘Thank You’ tour last December after he had failed to secure a re-election
but changed his mind following criticism that it was imprudent to do so,
especially coming at a time the NDC had been defeated by the New Patriotic
Party (NPP) and the government was on its way out.
New Candidate
DAILY GUIDE has learnt that there is going to be a keen
competition in the NDC over who should be the party’s candidate for the 2020
presidential election.
Majority within the
party’s leadership are said to be looking for a new face to lead the party, but
others have moved forcefully to get President Mahama to contest again.
Names like former Finance
Minister Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, former
University of Professional Studies Accra (UPSA) Rector Prof Joshua Alabi and
former National Health Insurance Authority (NHIS) boss Sylvester Mensah are
coming up strongly within the NDC circles.
Dr Duffuor and Sly Mensah
have denied any interest in the NDC flagbearership race for now.
However, probable
candidates like former Vice President Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur and former Trade
and Industry Minister Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah are said to have ‘cooled’ down
their interests in the race and it is getting clearer that the two stalwarts
may not contest at all. Goosie Tannor, a cadre, has also come out strongly for
the NDC presidential candidature slot.
Family Pressure
Already, family members of
ex-President Mahama have reportedly been persuading him not to contest the
presidential election in 2020.
Some analysts have said the
huge gap of over one million votes garnered by President Akufo-Addo against
Mahama showed that the ex-President will have a daunting task if he considers
contesting again for 2020.
During the period of the
investiture of President Akufo-Addo, the junior brother of the ex-president,
Ibrahim Mahama said, “John has given his all in politics to the NDC and Ghana
and we think it is just fair that we allow him to rest. We were very supportive
and instrumental in convincing him to partner Prof. Mills, and when the time
came for him to contest for president, we supported and advised him to go for
it…now we have advised him not to make a comeback in 2020.”
Comeback Dream
However, ex-President Mahama appears to want to give it
another shot and there are ongoing behind-the-scene moves to ensure that the
comeback agenda is on course.
An NDC source alleged that
before Mahama emplaned for Dubai, “he met some people and urged them to
stage-manage as if NDC people were calling on him to contest.
“He wants to start it by a
‘Thank You’ tour across the country but for now, we are still searching for who
is going to lead us in 2020.”
Cadres Front
According to the source,
the NDC is looking for what he called ‘a grass root party person’ whom the
cadres have deep trust in since they were of the view that they were neglected
by both the Mills/Mahama administrations.
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