NPP Running Mate Race: Anxious Minister Woos Diasporas With Lies

A leading cabinet minister, who is so desperate to partner the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, Dr.Mahamudu Bawumia, as his running mate for the 2024 general election, has been caught pants down lobbying with lies just a day after the presidential primary of his party was held.

The said minister (name withheld), who is from the Ashanti Region, is lobbying the Diasporas, especially those from the United States of America (USA) branches of the NPP, to offer impetus to his inordinate ambition of becoming a running mate at all cost.

At a meeting with some members of the Diaspora at his office in Accra on Sunday, November 5, 2023, the said minister was heard telling lies, just to win the hearts of those who were present.

He claimed that, when he was a deputy minister, he was not offered the opportunity to speak to the media and lots of things happened without his involvement, but thanks to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, he is today a minister and therefore asking for their support because they are all from the diaspora.

The said minister once lived in America, before he returned into the country to join politics. He was a deputy minister under the first term of President Akufo-Addo administration, until his elevation as a cabinet minister.

His audience at the meeting had travelled to Ghana to take part in the just-ended NPP Presidential primaries.

Interestingly, the said minister, when he was a deputy, was made the chairman of the Entity Tender Committee of his ministry, which was presiding over the flagship programme of the government.

Again, as a deputy minister he was made to have unrestricted access to the media to the extent that he touted himself as working more than his then boss and sector minister.

He actually became the face of the ministry’s communication, as he was the one in charge of liaising with the Ministry of Information and other communication outlets of the government.

The minister, who wants to partner with Dr. Bawumia desperately, could not secure a resounding victory for him in his own constituency in the Ashanti Region.

Interestingly, the Regional NPP Chairman and the Regional Minister are from the same area with the ambitious minister, raising doubts if he could deliver the whole region in the future.

Several names are in the public domain as potential running mate of Dr. Bawumia, with a list emerging hours after he won the Presidential primaries.

Who gets the nod

The choice of a running mate has always been the prerogative of the Presidential candidate and no other person.

Within the NPP, the choice of the running mate for then candidate Akufo-Addo became a huge issue, as Dr. Bawumia was not the choice of some power players within the party, but then candidate Akufo-Addo stuck to his guns and contested three elections with Dr. Bawumia, before winning in 2016.

Insiders believe, it will be unthinkable for any person to feel that the slot could be lobbied through the Presidency and other blocs within the NPP.

Source:Anchorghana.com