Johnson Asiedu Nketia, the Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has reacted to rumours surrounding his presidential ambition.
The NDC chairman emphasised it is too early for the NDC to be thinking about President John Dramani Mahama’s successor.
According to him, when the NDC get to the bridge when they will need to decide who their next flagbearer will be they will cross it.
Asiedu Nketia noted that eight months after the NDC won the 2024 election, the issues must never be about who succeeds President Mahama, but how the NDC government succeeds.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s Face to Face on Tuesday, August 26, Asiedu Nketia detailed, “I have been monitoring this whole discussion about who is running and who is not running for the presidency in the NDC, but I keep repeating my caution that we have to be very careful about the way we express our ambitions. Whoever succeeds President Mahama will ride on the achievements of this government.
So, in your effort to succeed, President Mahama, if you conduct yourself in ways that will disrupt the activities of this government, in ways that will make the government less successful, then you will have a bigger problem when you become flagbearer. That is why I have been cautioning that let us wait till the time,” he stated.
He added, “President Mahama is only about eight months in office now, and you want to struggle for who will replace him. All the names we are hearing, including my own name, are occupying sensitive positions both in the party and the government. If all of us decide to say that people say I can be president, so let me start organizing, then everybody will be going across the country, appointing campaign coordinators and so on.
How do you think that President Mahama can keep the party and government together and focus on achieving anything? If you are a minister and you are overtaken by your desire to be a president, everything you do will be to satisfy your ambition.”
The NDC Chairman continued, “Our situation is worse because you’ll hear about a Chief of Staff being mentioned. If it turns out to be true, the Chief of Staff is establishing structures and making money to prepare for elections, his ministers working under him are doing the same thing, and his chairman, too, is doing the same thing.
How will President Mahama be able to put things together for us? So if we are naked and we destroy the government less than a year into President Mahama’s regime, how is anybody who eventually succeeds going to have sufficient basis to tell Ghanaians to vote for us?”
Meanwhile, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2028 elections is expected to field a new candidate as current President John Dramani Mahama is serving his constitutionally mandated second term in office.
President John Mahama, with just months in his second term in office, is already dealing with speculations surrounding his successor.
The unofficial report gathered suggests, Haruna Iddrisu, Julius Debrah, Eric Opoku, and Johnson Asiedu Nketia are rumoured to be eyeing the NDC 2028 flagbearership.
According to sources, Eric Opoku is being pushed forward as John Mahama’s heir, silently, not to create unnecessary attention for the minister.
It has also been alleged that a strong team has been mobilised to advocate for Eric Opoku.
Eric Opoku joins a tall list of NDC bigwigs, including National Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings.
Meanwhile, a recent Global InfoAnalytics survey on the NDC flagbearer race indicates Haruna Iddrisu, the education minister, has become the National Democratic Congress (NDC )’s most preferred candidate to lead the country for the 2028 general elections.
The recent poll shows Haruna Iddrisu is slightly ahead of the NDC Chairman, Asiedu Nketia.
Haruna Iddrisu in the poll garnered a total of 27 per cent, followed by Asiedu Nketia pulling 26 per cent.
The finance minister, Ato Forson, pulled 22 per cent, with Chief of Staff Julius Debrah securing 11 per cent.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa also garnered 8 per cent, with the member of parliament for Korle Klottey, Zanetor Rawlings, polling 4 per cent.
Mussa Dankwah, in his post on X, stated, “Haruna and General knock horns in what may be an interesting race for the NDC, at least from General’s voters’ perspective”.