Host of Good Evening Ghana, Paul Adom-Otchere, has suggested that National Democratic Congress (NDC) National Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, remains the leading contender in the party’s flagbearership race and has been considering Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, as a potential running mate.
According to him, Asiedu Nketia will win if the NDC held flagbearer election today.
Speaking on Good Evening Ghana monitored by Newsdesksgh.com, Adom-Otchere said Asiedu Nketia “still by leaps and bounds, leads the charge.”
“If the NDC were to do the election today, I think Asiedu Nketia will win,” he stated.
He revealed that discussions within the NDC had previously included a possible ticket with Asiedu Nketia and Alban Bagbin.
“They were preparing this ticket, they called it the only ticket that survives the corruption tag,” he explained.
“Because in Ghana if you’re running for president and you need to deal with corruption, it’s a very difficult matter to deal with. Once there’s a corruption tag on you it can be problematic in Ghana.”
According to him, insiders within the NDC believed that the combination of Asiedu Nketia and Bagbin would be perceived as free if the corruption tag.
“They’re thinking that if you want to have a ticket that can really deliver a victory, then it must be a clean ticket. For it to be clean, you must have two people on the ticket that nobody can raise a corruption issue against.”
Paul Adom-Otchere noted that Asiedu Nketia can be shielded from any allegations of corruption since he has never been a minister or had anything to do with awarding contracts.
“He makes quite a bit of money,” he stated. “Someone may benefit from government largesse, but he’s not a minister or deputy minister, he hasn’t given contracts. His name will never come up for anything.”
However, he said there were growing concerns within the party about the advanced ages of both men.
“Asiedu Nketia was thinking about running mate Alban Bagbin. I don’t know whether they are still thinking so because some of their insiders tell me that they are being concerned about the ages of both men,” Adom-Otchere said.
“They’re thinking that if you’re campaigning against them and you say, ‘the combined ages of the president and running mate is 157,’ oh, that’s someway,” he added.
