The National Democratic Congress Council of Elders Chairman of South Africa, Mr. Benjamin Kofi Quashie has appealed to the rank and file of the party to rally support for former President John Dramani Mahama.
He argued that Mahama, after winning Saturday’s elections, is now the leader of the party and there is a need for all party members to support him going into the 2024 elections.
“Like it or not, he is the leader of the party. If you want to help the party, you need to help the leader as well. Dr. Duffuor is an astute politician and everything he did was geared towards victory 2024, and so we continue to urge that we all rally around our leader for victory 2024”, he noted.
He averred that, Mr. Mahama is an all-inclusive person and would be able to work with everyone going into the 2024 elections.
When asked whether he shares the views of those calling for Mahama to pick Dr. Duffuor as his running mate without prejudice to the former running mate, Mr. Quashie indicated that that is a decision for Mahama to make. “I’m sure he would do that taking into consideration the person’s love for country, party and other considerations”, he said.
“At this point, the constitution of the party allows for the presidential candidate to nominate a running mate, go to the Council of Elders, go to the Functional Executive Committee and I think Mr. Mahama would make the right choice of a running mate”, he stated.
Reacting to a seeming rift between Mahama and his northern brothers in relation to recent leadership changes in Parliament, the SA Council Chair insisted that there exists no such rift and indeed Mr. Haruna Iddrisu was seen campaigning for Mr. Mahama and even held Mahama’s hand high after the election declaration was done.
“That aspect unfortunately was not put into the public domain”.
“Instructively, the so-called rift between Mr. Mahama and some Northern NDC stalwarts is a figment of people’s imagination. The changes in the party’s leadership in Parliament were done by the party at a time Mr. wasn’t the leader and can’t be held liable for such an action even though he was consulted”, he contended in an interview on Joy News.
Mr Quashie also contented that, the NDC is better placed to beat any candidate the NPP will field in the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections, citing abysmal performance and the inability of the ruling party to touch base with the Ghanaian people.
