Bagbin backs Mills

Alban Bagbin, the man leading the 91 members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Parliament, has indicated his preference for Prof John Evans Attah Mills as the party’s flagbearer for the next presidential election.

The discrete lawyer who dropped the hint in an exclusive interview with the Chronicle based his choice on a comparative analysis he made of Mills and Dr Kwesi Botchwey’s chances of beating incumbent President John Kufuor at the 2004 election, if either is given the chance at the NDC delegates conference scheduled for December.

“The facts are that Prof Mills, having been in office as vice President for four years, and having also led the party in the last elections, is more know to Ghanaians and the rural dwellers than Dr Kwesi Botchwey,” he said. He argued that if at the end of the day, the vote is for Dr Botchwey, then it means that, the party would have to commit more resources to market him than it will need to sell Prof Mills.

He continued that another aspect, which the party has to take into consideration, in choosing a flagbearer, is the pros and cons of each of the aspirants and it should be done objectively so that the person can easily be put forward to win as against the incumbent J.A. Kufuor.

Insiders, however, counter that Mills who failed to beat Kufuor whiles the former was vice President would crumble before Kufuor now that he has the advantages of incumbency on his side. In fact, it was learnt that this argument and other considerations had divided the 91 NDC parliamentarians apart for either of the two contestants.

“The situation in the Parliamentary caucus is quite fluid, about half are for Mills and the remaining are for Botchwey. But there are a handful who are playing double cards, oscillating between both candidates” is how a former minister described the division.

Bagbin also dismissed the perception that the NDC is a divided party because of the Botchwey and Mills’ faction. He asserted that there are factions in the NDC just like in the NPP and other parties, but as a leader of the minority, he is leading the minority caucus, which is a faction in the NDC.

Touching on his capability to hold the factions together, he described himself as someone who is not conformist but rather, a transformer. As such, Bagbin assured that he would encourage both aspirants to do clean politicking and at the end of the day, party delegates would be well informed to choose a better candidate that can win the 2004 elections.

He explained that the competition that is going on is rekindling the selling of ideas and encouraging political activity, which would have been missing in the party if the selection of the flagbearer, had been one-sided. “”There are differences because, they believe that the qualities of the two involved are different but the division is not deep-seated. At the end of the day, we want the best to lead the party,” he added.

On the perception that 2004 is too early for the NDC to recapture power, the minority leader said anyone thinking that way shows a lot of ignorance about politics. Too early, he said, means that they were wrong in the Constitution by giving the term of four years for a president. “You can change your president every four years. After the four-year term if you think he is not able to deliver and as such you have made a mistake of changing the first one you can still change the second.”

He, however, dismissed allegations that Dr Botchwey would elect him as his running mate if he wins the flagbearership saying that he never aspires to be a running mate or presidential candidate of any party. “I entered politics with the objective of serving my nation and making sure that my constituency receives a fair share of the national cake” he quoted.

Bagbin thinks he could effectively represent his people both local and international but assured Ghanaians that he has effectively performed his role at a number of conferences and held high the flag of Ghana and won the heart of many members of parliaments all over the world. So he thinks the achievement is not his ambition to ever be the President of Ghana.

He noted that in the next two years, they would see similar incidences in other countries in the sub-region so it is not going to be a feature of Ghana politics only.