A former Defence Minister, Dr. Benjamin Kunbuor believes it is crucial for the opposition National Democratic Congress to retain John Dramani Mahama as flagbearer until he is able to secure a second term in office.
Not doing so, he asserts, could set a bad precedent, allowing members of the party, in the future, to challenge persons who have only served one of their two constitutionally permitted terms in office, for the presidential ticket, thereby leading to some bad blood within the party.
In an interview on Citi TV‘s Face to Face with Umaru Sanda Amadu, he responded in the affirmative when asked whether he believes the NDC should retain John Mahama as their flagbearer until he serves a second term as president.
“When you set a precedent of doing one term and you crowd him out, it also becomes institutionalized. Anybody with such an ambition after one term [can be ousted] with the reference point being, what might have happened to Mahama. So you need to be careful”, he argued.
As a member of the party’s Council of Elders, he argued that he can’t publicly state his position because his role is of a “reconciliatory position so you don’t make statements that will make it difficult for you to be an independent empire should problems come up and eventually come to the Council of Elders,” he added.
Dr. Kunbuor debunked reports that he is backing Goosie Tanoh to become NDC’s flagbearer for the 2024 elections.
He also denied claims that he has a bad relationship with former president Mahama insisting that while he “might disagree with the matters of principles, you will hardly see me bearing a grudge against someone.”
On the issue of Johna Mahama’s defeat in both 2016 and 2020, he said: “Just as we blame leaders for things when they go wrong we should be charitable enough to praise them when it goes right.”
He revealed that per his assessment, there is an issue of unfair selection of executives and individualization at the branch levels, which runs through the party’s hierarchy, hence the need for restructuring.
This problem has led to the NPP “making inroads in the strongholds of the NDC and even maintaining a lot of stability in their backyard, while the NDC is sliding down in terms of its strongholds and not making inroads in the strongholds of the NPP,” he added.