Former appointees of Mahama regroup for 2020

Former Ministers, Deputy Ministers, CEOs, Directors, Ambassadors, Aids and other appointees of His Excellency John Dramani Mahama have formed a group to champion his course to become the leader of the NDC ahead of election 2020.

The group are reported to have been in a meeting this week in the Cantonments Office of the former President, located near the US Embassy in Accra.

According to a report by the Today’s Newspaper owned by PPP’s Paa Kwesi Nduom, merely sighting the type of vehicles that were parked at the office of the former President, when the appointees met this week, is a clear indication of the overwhelming support that the former President is enjoying among the rank and file of the NDC party. Reporting from one of the meetings held in the office of the former President, “Today’s intelligence indicated that the types of vehicles that came there were enough to confirm the popularity of Mr Dramani Mahama”, the paper stated.

In a discussion with former appointees and hangers on of the former President, the newspaper reported that the destiny of the main opposition party in Ghana is hinged on one man. “In their view, the destiny of the NDC is tied to Mr Dramani Mahama’s return”, the official mouth piece of the PPP reported this week.

A former appointee who spoke to the newspaper went further to drop hints that majority of NDC Members of Parliament are joining the former appointees to clamour for the return of the former President because of financial rewards and support. These MPs, some of whom were also appointees of the former President are said to be counting on the war chest that has been built by their former President when he was in office, so as to enable them print T-shirts, posters, erect bill boards and organise their constituency campaigns. Besides the former leader, the source claimed that these MPs see no one in the Party who has the financial resources capable to fund the various constituencies across the country. Hence, their decision to support the former President for some financial security. “They cannot go back to their constituencies in 2020 to campaign without former President Dramani Mahama being elected as the flag-bearer of the party” the source told the paper.

The NDC is scheduled to have its Presidential Candidate elections in December this year, in preparation towards making a claim for the presidency in 2021.

Former President Mahama after a humiliating defeat in 2016, recording a negative 1 million votes, has been accused by some leading members of the NDC of scheming to keep himself as the face of the party, in spite of the fact that his elect-ability is very low.

Former Majority Leader of Parliament, Hon Alban Sumani Kingsford Bagbin has openly criticised the former President for using his former appointees and lackeys to organise health walks, branded as Unity Walks, in order to position himself still as the only leader in the NDC. Hon Bagbin, who has announced his intention to contest for the flagbearership has accused the former President of renting crowds to cheer him, even as the Ghanaian electorates have resoundingly rejected his style of leadership.

Mr. Bagbin has gone further to predict that the former President will soon announce his intention to contest as a candidate for the flagbearership of the NDC and that the Unity Walk is a vehicle that John Mahama and his former appointees are using to take hold of the party.

Political watchers have confirmed the assertion of the former Majority Leader, as it has been confirmed that the supposed Unity Walks have been postponed anytime the former President is out of the country on international assignments, except the one organised in Accra to coincide with the birthday of the first President of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

Contrary to the tag name of the Unity Walks, the NDC is sharply divided between recruits and loved ones of former appointees of the former President, and members of the party grassroots who are against the return of the former President and his appointees.

Some of the members of the NDC grassroots have mastered courage to speak against retaining the former President as the Presidential candidate of the NDC. They point to the mistakes committed by the former President including his loose talks as the reasons why the Ghanaian electorate cannot not easily forget and that they will not vote for the former President.

They argue that even though Ghanaians feel deceived by the unfulfilled promises of the NPP and are willing to vote for the alternative party, the NDC, the same Ghanaian voter is not going to replace the Akufo-Addo regime with that of the former President and his appointees which was heavily rejected two years ago.

On social media, those opposing the former President and his appointees have referred to statements made by the former President that leadership is transient and that one gets the opportunity to serve for once and must be ready to pass on the mantle of leadership to the next person. The “You come, you serve, you go” and “You bow out when the applause is loudest” principles as espoused by the former President have been religiously quoted to remind the former President and his former appointees, as to the relevance of that principle.

Meanwhile, three former appointees of the former President have broken ranks with their former colleagues and are campaigning across the country for the leadership of the party. They are the former Minister of Trade and Industry, Ekwow Spio Gabrah, former Vice Chancellor of UPSA, Professor Joshua Alabi and former Presidential Staffer, Sylvester Mensah.

Together with Alban Bagbin they are reported to be holding meetings with the NDC membership in the various constituencies to solicit their endorsements ahead of the December primaries.

Supporters of these men accuse the former President and his appointees as those who failed to keep to the principles of the NDC and thereby leading the party into an unprecedented defeat.

They have sworn to give the party a brighter chance in 2020 under a new flagbearer who can unite the party and provide high selling points for the party communication and grassroots in order to defeat the Akufo-Addo government in December 2020.

Story: Angel M. Bosomtwi