Posted
on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By
William Yaw Owusu
Thursday,
May 11, 2017
Former Trade and Industry Minister, Ekwow
Spio-Garbrah, appears to have thrown in the towel as the race for the presidential
candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) for Election 2020
gathers momentum.
He has said categorically that if former
President John Mahama contests as the flag bearer, he (Spio-Garbrah) will not join
the race, although it is not clear whether he will be interested in the contest
if the ex-president does not come.
Radio Interview
He granted an interview to a private radio
station - Radio XYZ - in Accra on
Tuesday and was later quoted as making a subtle declaration to contest in the
2020 presidential election, but he later reacted by saying it was distorted.
“That’s a premature question for me to answer…
all of us appointed by Mahama have great respect for him. We all believe we
have to grant him that opportunity,” Spio had told the station, adding, “He has
the first right of refusal.”
He continued, “My view is that all such matters are
for the collective… when the time comes I’ll take that into account. Let’s work
together to fix that car first or the horse that may be lame or whatever
allegory people want to use. Once it is done, the best driver will be decided.
At this state, it is early. Everyone could have leadership potential and I
can’t be excluded.”
Important Distortion
Mr Spio-Garbrah later said on the social media
platform - Facebook - that his
interview had been distorted by the media; and that he was giving an indication
that he might still be in the contest after all.
"Please note the slight but important
distortion of what I said this morning on Radio
XYZ. I did NOT say I shall run if
Mahama doesn't nor did I discuss who is the ‘best person’ to lead the NDC.”
He continued, “I said that all of us Mahama
appointees have a great deal of respect for him and so I believe he should be
given (as a former President and party leader) the right of first refusal
whether to run again.
“However, I noted that he will be contested if he
runs. I indicated that there are many people asking me to run but I have
advised them both publicly and privately that it is best for all of us to
concentrate on repairing the ‘broken NDC car’ or ‘strengthening the lame horse’
(Mahama's allegory) before competing over party leadership, hence, my call for
us to await the outcome of the Prof Botchwey Committee's work.”
He added, “I have no doubt that there will be
many distortions of what I said on Radio
XYZ, which I have summarized above."
More Names
Apart from Mr Spio-Garbrah’s name that popped up, there are a host
of NDC stalwarts who are all planning to upstage ex-President Mahama as the
NDC’s flag bearer for 2020 because many claim the former president does not
have what it takes to run for the highest office again after his humiliating
defeat as incumbent leader in the 2016 general election.
They include Alban Bagbin, former majority leader in parliament who
is currently 2nd deputy dpeaker of the house; former speaker of parliament,
Edward Doe Adjaho and former National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) CEO,
Sylvester Mensah, who was recently seen meeting NDC members at Sogakope in the
Volta Region.
A retired Rector of the University of Professional Studies Accra (UPSA),
Joshua Alabi, is also reportedly lacing his boots to declare his intention to
stand for the nomination in possible opposition to ex-President Mahama's bland
popularity arising out of the Prof. Kwesi Botchwey Commission’s report on how
the NDC lost the December 7, 2016 general election.
They are all said to be busily setting up offices and criss-crossing
the country to shore up their support base ahead of the crucial NDC congress,
likely to be held next year.
Mahama
Puzzle
Some political analysts are of the opinion that should
ex-President Mahama succeed in contesting on the ticket of the NDC again but
fail to win the 2020 contest, it would further break the front of the
opposition party because they would then have to struggle to market a candidate
for 2024.
Others also believe that since Mr Mahama was humiliated in the
December 7, 2016 poll, there was going to be very little chance for him in 2020
– especially when there is no incumbency advantage.
Lame Horse
The former president himself
recently called for a careful re-organisation and assessment of the NDC after
the party’s crushing defeat last year, admitting that the former ruling party
was sick as he likened it to a ‘lame horse.’
For him, it is absolutely
premature for members of the NDC to talk about who will lead the party at its
present state, positing, "If you ride a lame horse into a race and you
lose the race, your priority must be to cure the lameness of the horse and not
about who will ride the horse."
However, critics within
the NDC are saying that the party has never been lame and insisted that it was
the jockey (in reference to the ex-President as NDC candidate) who was rather
lame.
No comments:
Post a Comment