By William
Yaw Owusu
Thursday
August 16, 2018
Even before the
opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) goes to the polls on December 7,
2018 to elect a flagbearer for the 2020 general elections, one of the
contenders, Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, appears to have thrown in the towel.
The former Trade and
Industry Minister is now saying that he would gladly accept to become former
President John Mahama’s running mate, and in the same breath he is insisting
that he will defeat Mahama to become the NDC’s flagbearer.
Contradictions
Mr Spio-Garbrah’s
statements about his presidential ambition since the NDC was defeated massively
in the 2016 general elections have always been contradictory.
He said in May last
year that he would not contest if former President Mahama decides to contest
the NDC flagbearership position.
He, however, made
a U-turn in August last year about his plans to become flagbearer when his spokesperson Kweku Tawiah Ampah urged the public to disregard
any news that Dr Spio-Garbrah had abandoned his plans to lead the NDC in 2020.
“I can assure you
that come 2018, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah will run,” he said on Citi
FM in Accra, emphasizing that the former minister would contest even if
former president Mahama decides to make a comeback.
“Even if he decides to run, he should know
that he will be contested, that is what he stated. What it means is that we
should give the former president a courtesy of either refusing or deciding to
run as a respect for his presidency and the fact that he was the leader of the
NDC…But this doesn’t mean that Spio-Garbrah will not run,” his spokesperson said.
The Coordinator of the ‘Spio-Garbrah Fan
Club’ Isaac Kofi Ahimah, 63, who was said to have been dismissed by the
former minister, accused him recently of not being serious about his
presidential ambition.
He said “Dr
Spio-Garbrah is lying about his resolve to lead the party in 2020.”
Mr Ahimah said
Spio-Garbrah declared in Aflao
during the NDC Unity Walk that he was withdrawing from the race to throw his
weight behind ex-President Mahama.
He said he even facilitated a meeting between Spio-Garbrah and
former President Mahama through Julius Debrah where the former Minister
allegedly reiterated that he was no longer interested in the NDC’s flagbearership
race once the ex-President wants to contest again.
Latest
Interview
However, on Joy
TV in Accra yesterday, Mr. Spio-Garbrah, said he will accept to be the
running mate of former President John Mahama to serve Ghana and strengthen his
party.
His explanation to
the host, Kojo Yankson, was that he and former President Mahama had worked
together in the past and he would not hesitate to continue that relationship.
“He was my deputy at
the Communications Ministry once and when he became President, he asked me to
join his government and we worked together…” he said adding “…I am happy to
work with him in any of the permutations that you are speculating.”
Scenario
He then said he
expects to win the contest rather than settle for running mate, saying "but
the scenario you are painting is not what is likely to happen, I intend to win
the flagbearship race of the NDC.”
Speaking on the loss
of the party in 2016, Dr Spio-Garbrah noted that the communication of the
party’s message failed them.
Reflecting on the
NDC’s massive defeat in December 2016, he said some of the party’s
communicators in places like the Ashanti Region, did not know the campaign
message of the party in the 2016 election.
“I asked them what
message the NDC had for the electorate in 2016 and of the 58 communicators, none
of them knew it,” he lamented, adding “there was a big manifesto but it was in
big English and not broken into simple language."
No comments:
Post a Comment