When the name of Prof. Kwesi Botchwey was dropped last Monday evening as the running mate of former President John Mahama, expectedly it spread like wildfire.
The story was swiftly denied by the former President’s tweet which read: “The Daily Graphic report of the selection of a running mate is false.”
By the time the flag bearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) came out with his Twitter and Facebook denials, the story had already become a subject of political gossip and discourse.
While some of the discussions made political sense, others sounded too weird to be acceptable. For many, the denied story offered them a chance to play with names of possible running mates to former President John Mahama.
Although the denial eventually sank in the minds of political enthusiasts, it did not stop the further discussion about who the former President might choose as his running mate for the 2020 elections.
Some observers think that the dropping of the name of the Prof. who researched the factors that accounted for the miserable defeat of the NDC in the last polls, originated from his supporters who were merely testing the waters.
One of the footnotes in his findings about what accounted for the poor performance of the former President was his running of the campaign as a movie star – something which did not sound pleasing to Mr. Mahama and his close confidantes as they especially lived in denial after the massive electoral defeat in 2016.
Others could not resist attributing it to managers of the flag bearer. It is being said that the flag bearer is too comfortable with the Prof. as his running mate but in politics things are hardly cast in steel.
Although it is six months since the flag bearer was chosen, the party does not seem to be in a hurry to choose one even as both party supporters and strategists of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) watch keenly possible developments in that direction.
The choice of a running mate in every party must be informed by certain political dynamics failing which can spell doom at the polls.
While the flag bearer would dare not choose somebody from the north, others think he could be eyeing the daughter of party founder Jerry John Rawlings, Dr. Zanetor Rawlings, the Member of Parliament for Osu Klottey Constituency.
DAILY GUIDE has learnt about the growing interest of Alex Mould, former CEO of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and brother of Betty Mould Iddrisu.
Whatever decision the party takes on who partners former President Mahama, he the flag bearer would have an important input in such finality because, after all, he should be comfortable with whoever runs after him in the electoral race.
NDC General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia would not mind being considered for such a partnership with the flag bearer as evidenced from his remarks earlier in that direction. He said he would gladly accept to serve as a running mate to the flag bearer.
The opposition party would be holding their parliamentary primaries on Saturday, 24th August, 2019.
Until the details of the eventual running mate are released, the conjectures will continue but for sure the running mate is advisedly not going to be somebody from the northern regions.
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