Ghana: NPP Must Appoint Running Mate Now -Political Analyst

Sebastian R. Freiku

23 June 2011

Kumasi — A Kumasi based socio-economic and Political analyst, Mr. Frederick Appiah-Kusi insists that the selection of a Vice Presidential candidate between now and December 2011 by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is mandatory.

He says the early selection of a running mate is crucial for NPP’s campaign, in the run up to the 2012 elections.

Mr. Appiah-Kusi told The Chronicle that he was adding his voice to the debate after a critical observation and upon considering the exigencies of the time and the political calendar, and the fact that the running mate must not play the role of a second fiddle, but take active part in the prosecution of the 2012 campaign.

He noted that the early selection of the Vice Presidential candidate of NDC in 2007 and the strength of the candidate, in no small way helped them (NDC) to win the confidence of the masses in the 2008 elections.

The Political analyst explained his reason for an early selection of a Vice Presidential candidate for the NPP requires that the party should have a messenger (presidential candidate) who will be the forerunner, as in the case of John the Baptist and Jesus, to propagate the message (manifesto).

He said the obvious election of President John Evans Atta Mills as NDC presidential candidate for 2012 makes it a forgone conclusion that his Vice President will be an obvious choice and that if the unexpected happens, the Vice President may and can easily take over from the President, even if he has to go to congress again, after the outcome of July 8th to 10th congress.

The political analyst noted that the reforms that have taken place in the NPP from the process of reviewing its constitution for an expanded electoral college, and the successful primaries from polling station level to constituency, regional and national levels, that culminated in the primaries for both presidential and parliamentary candidates, make it expedient to predict a fertile and a strong party, ready for action.

He said with Campaign committees including conflict and communication committees already formed, with a manifesto committee and policy think-tanks working night and day and leaving no stone unturned is enough to destroy the vicious arsenals of their opponents.

Appiah-Kusi said the communication committee, comprising the national campaign communication director and five deputies are to work hand in hand with the vice presidential candidate, with each of the five deputy communication directors assigned to two regions each for the ten regions, and that the regional communication directors must be in constant touch with their national deputy directors, while linking up with each of the constituency communication officers, who in turn link up with polling station communication officers.

This will lead to information flow explosion to sell the party’s message. “This arrangement in itself calls for the early selection of the vice president to get involved in the effective strategizing of the campaign message”, he said.

From an NDC perspective, Appiah-Kusi said it is neither a Northerner nor Muslim as vice presidential candidate that matters, since in 1992 and 1996, then candidate J. J. Rawlings chose vice presidential candidates from the Central region, even though that of the late Kow Nkensen Arkaah was as a result of an electoral alliance with the NCP.

Referring to Vice President John Dramani Mahama, a Northerner and a Christian, a condition that had probably made the Atta Mills-Mahama pair win the favour of God, Appiah-Kusi said Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo’s choice of vice presidential candidate must not be limited to NPP’s old-age considerations of either being from the North or a Muslim, since neither has been a consideration of candidates who have helped the NDC win since 1992.

According to him, it is an undisputed fact that the choice of both vice presidential candidates, His Excellency Aliu Mahama (a Dagomba) and Dr. Mahamadu Bawumiah (a Mamprusi) might not have served the larger interest of NPP in the North, and Ghana as a whole.

According to him, the early selection of the running mate to take pragmatic and active role in the campaign as a forerunner, will reduce the ridicule and vilification of Nana Addo when he has to speak on major policy and national issues.

Once selected the Vice Presidential candidate, who should be a strong character and whose public or parliamentary service cannot be in doubt, should be able to interact with grass root party members, parliamentary candidates and even the general public.

What this implies, Appiah-Kusi said, is that neither the Northern nor Muslim factor are of the first priority consideration, except that it would be a better tool to silence the NDC once and for all, if it becomes inevitable with the NDC founder having overthrown Dr. Hilla Limann’s PNP government in1981.

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