John Mahama To Launch Presidential Campaign In Ho

Former president John Dramani Mahama, will start his campaign today, Thursday, March 2, 2023, in an effort to become the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) flagbearer in the general elections of 2024. ‘Building the Ghana we want together’ will be the theme for launching his campaign which will take place in the Cedi Auditorium at the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ho, in the Volta Region.

Aside from the former president, Dr. Kwabena Duffour, a former Finance Minister, Kojo Bonsu, a former Mayor of Kumasi, and Ernest Kobeah, a 43-year-old businessman based in the United Kingdom, are all running for the job. The party is anticipated to conduct its presidential primaries on May 13, 2023. After losing the previous two elections in 2016 and 2020, John Mahama intends to run for president again in the 2024 polls.

The former President, however, is confident that he has what it takes to assist the nation out of its current economic crisis. Mahama’s former campaign manager, Joshua Alabi, and some Regional Chairmen of the National Democratic Congress picked up presidential nomination forms on his behalf. Observers are backing calls for Mr. Mahama to go unopposed in the NDC’s upcoming presidential election.

Although the rules of the NDC permit an open contest for all qualified members of the party, allowing Mahama to go unopposed they believe will save the party both resources and time. A political scientist and lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr. Abdul Jalilu Ateku, says he does not foresee any significant threat to the victory of Mahama in the NDC’s primaries. Dr. Ateku anticipated that the former President will win by a landslide victory in the internal polls.

He said none of the presidential hopefuls who have declared their intentions to contest on the ticket of the opposition NDC comes out stronger than Mr. Mahama. But the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has said it is not perturbed about the decision of John Dramani Mahama to run for president.

Director of Communications for the NPP, Richard Ahiagbah said the party is not worried about a man who has no track record to show when he was president. “We have beaten him twice, so you just conclude for yourself if we are afraid of him. It is all mathematical, and we have defeated him twice. He is even afraid to plainly declare whether he is going to contest or not. We are ready for him.”