We’ll boycott IEA’s Presidential debate if Mahama refuses to participate — Miracles Aboagye

Dennis Miracles Aboagye, spokesperson for the campaign team of New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has hinted that the NPP may boycott the Institute of Economic Affairs' (IEA) 2024 Presidential debate if former President and National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer John Dramani Mahama refuses to participate.

Speaking in an interview on Citi FM, Mr. Aboagye emphasized that the debate would lose its essence without the participation of the two leading candidates.

He explained, "You can't debate yourself if the opposition leader doesn't make himself available.

“Then I don't know whether there is actually a debate in this election...that is why usually in these debates we have the leading candidates. And so, we are expecting the leading candidates to be the ones participating in this debate.”

Continuing, he stated, “I think that to be fair to the people of Ghana, what the voters are looking forward to is the debate between the two leading candidates in this election.

“If the leading opposition party is not at the debate, then there is no debate. We can't go into an election with a 19-man debate.”

This comes in reaction to the NDC’s earlier stance that Mahama would not debate Bawumia in the upcoming presidential race.

Meanwhile, the IEA has already released the schedule for its anticipated debates leading up to the December 7 elections.