The Re-election Of Mahama As A Flagbearer: A Blessing Or A Bane

The wake of democracy has come with a demand for politicians and for that matter, political parties to be strategic and tactically proficient so as to leverage any available niche for their political goals. Notwithstanding the fact that Ghanaians are rational with regards to voting, certain actions and decisions do condition electoral prospects for political parties and in allusion, Nana Addo’s comeback for the third time in no doubt played a significant role for the NPP’s massive victory in the 2016 elections and therefore, the reappearance of Mr. Dramani Mahama could give the NDC some potency in the 2020 election.

Mahama’s declaration to contest for the NDC flagbearership received major support from his party fellows which could be as a result of their personal reasons but personally, I didn’t expect the support to be that massive as it was especially for a former President who can only go for just one term again. But as said earlier, the party fellows had their own reasons and it has reflected in their massive vote for the Former President, Mr. John Dramani Mahama who garnered as high as 95% of the votes cast.

Nevertheless the rationality behind his choice, as a Political Science graduate, I see Mr. Mahama’s choice to be politically erroneous on the part of the NDC and the only jot of positivity being the case of leveraging Mr. Mahama’s achievement if he is to win the 2020 elections to sell out a new candidate for 2024 elections. I was anticipating a future promising candidate being brought to fore by the NDC whom they could sell to the masses especially in this case that Mr Mahama can only go for one term in governance and that could have made them more politically viable to cajole the populace to their favour come 2024, that is if 2020 strips off their hands. It behooves the party then to step-up their mechanisms and to undertake sound political approaches purposely to realizing their political fortunes of which I have sought to give some recommendations.

Be that as it may, the NPP under the Akuffo-Addo and Bawumia led-administration is well performing in comparison to Mahama’s administration, and from all indications stands the highest chance of winning a second term which you could argue. Nonetheless, the choice of Mr. Dramani Mahama still poses a sort of challenge to the NPP even though winning the ultimate is quite not feasible.

Most Ghanaians will concur with me with that Mr. Mahama was arguably abysmal in his first term and Ghanaians conspicuously expressed their dissatisfaction by their massive vote for the NPP making Nana Addo winning the election with over 1 million vote margin. But one area where Mr. Mahama could be described as a gem is in the area of infrastructural development and I give him A+ for that. This alone is a great political message to latch on for a better performance against the NPP.

Imperatively, The NDC has made a decision and that must not be taken for granted. 2020 elections will be quite competitive and I think the NDC should; first of all, select a vibrant and more promising running mate who they could market to the electorate so that if 2020 goes in their favour, they could leverage on Mr. Mahama’s achievement to solidly sell him out for future political prospect, and even if 2020 goes the other way round, he would by then be popular and well built in all capacities to lead the party in 2024. Moreover, 2020 could present them with favour if only they take a keen look at addressing all internal wrangling, and come out with a more feasible flagship policy that will appeal to the electorate.

Let me, therefore, opine that Mahama’s reelection as the flag bearer for the NDC has got its associated blessings and woes, and since my account is not and does not purport to be conclusive on this matter, I would want to crave your indulgence by asking you to juxtapose your opinion to what has been espoused here and finally conclude if indeed his reelection is a blessing or a bane.

May Our Motherland Flourish!