I'll never contest Abuakwa North seat again – Victor Smith

After suffering a humiliating defeat in his bid to secure the Abuakwa North seat for a second time in the 2016 elections, former Ghana High Commissioner to the UK, Victor Smith, has vowed never to contest that seat again.

“I’ll be very frank with you I’ll not stand elections there again. I have done twice,” announced the former High Commissioner in an interaction with Francis Abban on Morning Starr Wednesday.

Nonetheless, he said, he did not regret contesting the seat again and that his decision not to go again is not because he is embittered.

Ambassador Smith lost his bid for the seat for the second time to Gifty Twum-Ampofo, garnering 11,740 of valid votes to the latter’s 18,098.

Touching on the party’s general woeful performance in the elections, the defeated NDC parliamentary candidate stated that “weak leadership” cost the party the elections.

“Weak leadership could have cost us,” he remarked, stating “I believe that we had victory on our hands. It could not be just political leadership at the presidency.”

The NDC lost the 2016 elections miserably to then opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), making John Mahama the first ever sitting president to have lost an election in the Fourth Republic.

Ambassador Smith described the NDC defeat as “a hurricane” which could have been easily averted if “Mahama had been timeously advised.”

“We lost it as a team to have anticipated if we had kept our ears on the ground… we would have anticipated a hurricane coming,” he added. “There were some mistakes that if we had tackled timeously, we (NDC) would have won the elections.”

He expressed optimism that NDC will bounce back come election 2020. “In time, we (NDC) will tackle the little blunders and mistakes that cost us during the elections,” he opined.

According to him, former president Mahama is the best “gamble” for the NDC going into the next presidential election.

“If the NDC wants to win election 2020, it has to be John Mahama. We campaigned on John Mahama’s achievement and he will be the best to run in 2020,” he said.