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Bawku Central Member of Parliament, Mahama Ayariga has asked the General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Johnson Asiedu Nketia not to contest for the position of the National Chair against the current chairman Samuel Ofosu Ampofo.

Mr Ayariga believes that if Mr Asiedu Nketia contests for the posotion, it will put the party in a very difficult situation because the party cannot afford to lose one of them from the leadership.

Asked who he is supporting for the chairmanship position, while speaking on the Good Evening Ghana show on Tuesday December 7, he said “I actually haven’t given a thought. I believe that the two of them should find a way of continuing to work together, if you ask for my honest view. Because whatever Asiedu Nketia will accuse the chairman of, the chairman can equally accuse Asiedu Nketia of. They were together when we won elections, they were together when we lost two elections so the two of them are equally responsible.

“We have confidence in the two of them and so we want them to remain to work together but if they force us to have to make a choice it will be a difficult choice but we will prefer that the two of them find a way of continuing to work together.

“I don’t see the difference between the powers of a General Secretary vis-à-vis the National Chairman, If you ask me.

The General Secretary is more of the engine of the party so, to move yourself from General Secretary and go to chairmanship, I don’t know what will happen but I prefer that they are all there because Asiedu Nketia, in a way, has become the soul of the party, everybody in the party likes Asiedu Nketia, the grassroots like him, everybody feels that he worked very hard for the party. At the same time, they also have respect for the chairman of the party.

“So he is putting us in a very difficult situation given that it is not the chairman who wants to go and contest General Secretary , it is he who wants to go and contest the chairman.

“So he is the one who is putting us in a very difficult situation . We like him so much.

“I know he has quite some weight in the party and he is one of the very few people who can have their way through anything that they want in the party except that in this instance, I will plead with him to reconsider his decision because it is going to put us all in a very difficult situation.

“We like him, under any circumstance we cannot lose Asiedu Nketia but at the same time we don’t want to also throw away our chairman.”