Retaining Nana Addo For 2016 Is An Automatic Second Term For Prez Mahama

Despite the provisions stipulated in the 1992 constitution ie Article 62 clause (B), which states inter alia that; �A person shall not be qualified for election as the President of Ghana unless- (b) he has attained the age of forty years�,� a University Lecturer has warned that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) risks staying in �opposition for a long time� if it retains Nana Akufo-Addo as its presidential candidate for the 2016 elections. According to Kwesi Amakye, a Political Science Lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), a research he has conducted and the trend across the world indicates that age has become a major determinant in choosing a leader. Though it is said that wisdom comes with age, Mr. Amakye opined that his research findings points to the fact that any presidential candidate who has attained 70 years or above is likely to lose the next election, thus if Nana Addo falls in that �bracket, so be it�. ��I don�t even know Nana Addo�s age so we are making general political statements which are not specific. But if he is around 70 by the year 2016, he (Nana Addo) should forget about it. It�s over,� the Political Science lecturer posited on Adom Fm. Answering to the school of thought that believes that Nana Akufo- Addo would be the ideal candidate for the NPP in 2016 because of the fact that he has been well marketed and also he is likely to win sympathy votes, Kwesi Amakye stated that, �that would be a sacrifice of efficiency for convenience and if I speak for Ghana, I would say no�. Kwesi Amakye�s comments come on the back of pronouncements by the Chief Scribe of the NPP, Kwadwo Owusu Afiyie popularly known as Sir John, that Nana Akufo-Addo will be retained as the party�s Presidential candidate in 2016. Another group has reportedly sprung up clamouring for Nana Addo to be retained as the party�s flagbearer for the next general election. Spearheading that lobby group, is the party�s Ashanti Regional Chairman, Mr. F F Anto, who rubbished assertions on age factor made against Nana Addo, saying it�s a �non-starter� by anyone to use that line of argument to put the experienced politician off. Mr Anto said the NPP would be better off taking their two-time presidential candidate into the 2016 elections, since he had the wherewithal to clinch the much-needed victory. Nonetheless, Mr. Amakye who claims he was once a member of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) is convinced that President John Dramani Mahama would win a landslide victory if Nana Addo is elected again to lead the NPP. ��the re-nomination of Nana Addo would be a second term for President Mahama and they (NPP) will stay in opposition for a very long time,� he said.