The National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, has emerged ahead of other potential contenders in the party’s flagbearer race.
The survey, conducted by Professor Smart Sarpong, an Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow at the Kumasi Technical University, placed Asiedu Nketiah, popularly known as “General Mosquito,” at the top in both categories.
Professor Smart Sarpong survey sampled 9,330 respondents across 11 regions between September 10 and 20, 2026, with the respondents comprising 5,580 stakeholders and 3,750 core NDC delegates.
The regions covered were Upper East, North East, Northern, Savannah, Bono, Ahafo, Western, North Western, Central, Greater Accra and Ashanti.
On the question of who could best unite the NDC, Asiedu Nketiah obtained 24.5 per cent of the responses, followed by Eric Opoku, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, with 20.4 per cent.
Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, Minister of Finance, followed with 12.5 per cent, while Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu recorded 9.4 per cent.
Dr Julius Debrah, Chief of Staff, polled 6.1 per cent, followed by Vice President Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang with 5.2 per cent and Professor Joshua Alabi with 3.6 per cent.
Also, Asiedu Nketiah led on the question of suitability to lead the party, recording 27.6 per cent. Eric Opoku followed closely with 26.4 per cent, while Ato Forson obtained 16.1 per cent and Haruna Iddrisu recorded 10.4 per cent.
However, Professor Sarpong cautioned against interpreting the findings as a prediction of the eventual outcome of the NDC’s flagbearer election.
Professor Sarpong explained that the survey was focused on respondents’ perceptions of attributes that could be considered important in a potential flagbearer, rather than predicting who would win an election that had not yet begun.
“We are not doing predictions yet. For now, we are looking at attributes of a possible flagbearer, and one of them is the ability to unify the party,” Professor Sarpong said.
Professor Sarpong noted that the rankings could change considerably once prospective aspirants pick nomination forms, undergo vetting and begin active campaigns.
He, however, disclosed that Asiedu Nketiah appeared to have established an early lead in the perceptions measured by the survey, while Eric Opoku was also gaining ground.
The survey was conducted at a time when the NDC had not opened nominations for its next flagbearer election also, none of the potential aspirants mentioned in the survey had publicly declared an intention to contest at the time of the study.
Meanwhile, beyond the leadership contest, the survey examined perceptions of Ghana’s political environment, with 52.1 per cent of respondents describing the national political temperature as calm, while 35.3 per cent considered it somewhat calm and 12.6 per cent said it was not calm.
In other news, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, the National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has refused to rule out contesting for the flagbearership position of his party.
According to Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, he would make his intentions known when the time was right, adding that his political options remain wide open.
He argued that ambition was an essential part of politics, adding that politicians without ambition are in the wrong profession.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah stated, “Ambition is a very useful thing in politics. If you are a politician and you have no ambition, you are in the wrong profession”.
“I have told you how I would clearly declare it when the time is up for me to do so,” he said.
“How do you hide pregnancy? If you hide your intention to contest for a position, how do you campaign?” he asked.
When directly asked by the host whether he personally aspired to become President, the NDC Chairman stated, “Is the time up? That is the question I’m asking you. Wait till my time is up, and then I will let you know”.
“Sitting here, I can choose to become the next national organiser of the NDC. There is no law that bars me. I can choose to become a general secretary again, and contest with my brother and very good friend Fifi Kwetey.
“I can decide to remain the national chairman, and I can decide to contest and go back to parliament. I can decide to be the presidential candidate, and so all these are options that are open.”
“There will be nothing wrong with that. You need to keep people guessing. Guessing is also part of the game.”
When pressed again on whether he was deliberately refusing to rule out a presidential bid, Asiedu Nketiah stated, “No, no, no, no, no. I have never ruled any position out in my life. I’m not ruling any position out.”
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