A group of female supporters of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Ashanti Region has called on the party to nominate Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as its Presidential Candidate for the 2024 General Elections.
According to the female supporters, the party risk losing the next election if they fail to nominate the vice president who, they say, is popular among the electorates as their presidential candidate.
The supporters mainly market women argued that Dr. Bawumia’s performance in government and his appeal to voters especially those in the northern part of Ghana saved the party from defeat in the 2020 election hence, it will be suicidal to present a different candidate for the next General Elections.
They threatened to boycott the 2024 elections if the vice president is not chosen as the party’s Flagbearer.
One of the women who introduced herself as Adoa Dekyea said “Bawumia is a visionary leader. There is nobody who is more visionary than him. He has done very well for the party. If not for him, we wouldn’t still be in power. He and his wife have done very well. He is popular among the electorates so we must present him as our Flagbearer.”
Another women who introduced herself as Mama Aggi also said “if we present a different candidate, we will lose the election like we lost many parliamentary seats. Bawumia and his wife have been able to give the party more votes in the North of the country.”
While admonishing the party’s executives to take a cue from the poor performance of the NPP in the parliamentary election, the supporters urged them to expand the electoral college system to include ordinary members of the party so that the outcome of the next presidential and parliamentary primaries will reflect the verdict of majority of the party’s members.
This, they believe, will avert situations where few party’s delegates elect people who are unpopular among the teaming supporters of the party.
“We want the party to let ordinary members participate in the primaries so that we can elect the right people to represent the party and avert what happened in the parliamentary election,” ‘Mama Aggi’ added.
President Akufo-Addo will be stepping aside for a new person to represent the NPP in the next election after a second term in office.
Prior to the 2008 elections when former president Kufour had served his a two tenure in office and the party sought his replacement in an internal contest, his vice president, Alhaji Aliu Mahama could not succeed him as the NPP’s flagbearer after he lost out in a presidential primaries in which 17 people contested.
The elephant party was criticized by its opponents for not allowing the then vice president to succeed Mr. Kufour claiming that the unprecedented number of people who contested the primaries was to make it impossible for Mr. Aliu Mahama to succeed his boss as the Flagbearer because he was a non-Akan.
Dr. Bawumia, critics of the NPP believe, will suffer a similar fate as the former vice president since he is also a non-Akan.
