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An aspiring presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Kojo Bonsu, has said the party is at the crossroads and needs a formidable candidate to lead it to victory in the 2020 general election.

He said the NDC was currently faced with the task of regaining its rightful place as a winning election machine that had the well-being of Ghanaians at heart, or it was going to be judged as the generation that failed to re-energise and reinvent the party.

“This is where I fit in perfectly,” he said.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic at his campaign office at Osu in Accra last Friday, Mr Bonsu said he was focused on delivering a major upset in the party’s presidential primary.

He said his campaign message, which was anchored on five pillars, was sinking down well with the delegates and believed it would translate into votes on polling day.

Campaign tour

Mr Bonsu’s campaign tour has already taken him to three regions – Central, Eastern and Western – and he is impressed with the way the people welcomed him.

“I am coming with hope for the party and I am very sure that our delegates will vote massively for me,” he said.

‘I am not doing anybody’s bidding’

Mr Bonsu and 12 others, including former President John Dramani Mahama; in whose Presidency Mr Bonsu worked as the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) of Kumasi, are aspiring for the flag bearer position.

There were concerns in some political circles that the former Kumasi MCE entered the presidential race as a smokescreen, doing the bidding of his former boss, but Mr Bonsu insisted that it would be wrong for anyone to think along that line.

He said he was contesting on his own volition and was bent on seeing the party back in power.

Pillars

One of the pillars on which Mr Bonsu’s message is based is to make the appointment of metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) a bottom-up approach. According to him, the local party people would have the biggest input in the appointments.

Winning back Zongos

Mr Bonsu expressed concern about the way the Zongos were gradually drifting away from the NDC to the NPP.

“It looks like the Zongos are tilting towards the NPP and we must bring them back to where they belong,” he stated.

Getting back to the roots

Explaining why the NDC lost the 2016 election, Mr Bonsu said it was mostly as a result of the party losing touch with the grass roots.

“The party lost touch with the people who matter most – the grass roots of the nation. In that single, inexcusable mistake we selfishly broke the most critical link in what unifies us as a party, and with that, we lost everything,” he explained.