The former president John Dramani Mahama has confided in close associates that he may not run again for the presidency, having lost the last two general elections, sources within the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have disclosed to Asaase News.
According to our sources, Mahama’s decision to opt out of the 2024 elections has been met with shock among the rank and file of the party, triggering co-ordinated lobbying to get him to rescind his decision.
However, his opponents within the NDC also see it as a simple ploy by Mahama to get himself affirmed as the party’s flagbearer without a contest. That campaign has already started and is gathering momentum, reliable sources said.
Two close associates confirmed that Mahama, who led the party in the 2012, 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, is reluctant to go through the whole process of raising funds for the NDC leadership contest which will take place at the very latest in the first quarter of 2023.
But supporters in other aspirants’ camps are not impressed. They see it as an attempt to “bully the party to hand over the baton to him again but this time without a contest”. They warn that could disturb the unity of the main opposition party.
“We are confident he will contest,” a source at the NDC party headquarters also told Asaase News. “We think he is simply going through a phase, especially after the devastating unanimous defeat we suffered at the Supreme Court.”
Mahama challenged the 2020 presidential results in the Supreme Court before seven judges but failed to produce the evidence required to support his challenge, losing the case in a 7-0 judgment. He lost the 2020 election by a margin of more than 500,000 votes.
The former president still enjoys a huge following in the NDC.
Checks by Asaase News suggest that as things stand he would win fresh NDC primaries by a landslide.
Those pushing for Mahama’s retention argue that he is the only candidate in the NDC who can secure victory for the party in 2024.
Meanwhile, apart from the current Speaker of Parliament, other leading members of the NDC such as Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Sylvester Mensah, Kwabena Duffuor, Joshua Alabi and Haruna Iddrisu are all potential presidential candidates.
Their supporters are threatening to resist any attempt to have Mahama “imposed” on the party.
Source: AsaaseRadio
