Mills boy rejects Mahama for 2020 polls

Former Minister of Information in the erstwhile Mills administration, Fritz Baffoe, has revealed that none of the presidential hopefuls of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), including former President John Dramani Mahama, is his choice of candidate for the party in the 2020 election.

Mr Baffoe, who was also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma South Constituency in the Greater Accra Region, although said names like former Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Ekwow Spio Garbrah, Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, former Chief Executive Officer of National health Insurance, Sylvester Mensah, former Vice Chancellor of University of Professional Studies, Prof Joshua Alabi, and yet to declare his intention, former President Dramani Mahama are all good presidential materials, none of them can bring victory to the NDC in 2020.

“Although some names including former President Dramani Mahama have popped up, my choice is not among the names. As at now, none of them is my choice, not even President Mahama,” he stressed.

Mr Baffoe made the revelation on Metropolitan Television’s flagship programme: ‘Good Evening Ghana,’ hosted by Paul Adom Otchere, last Tuesday night.

According to him, all those who are seeking to lead the party in 2020 were part and parcel of the Mahama-led government that suffered humiliating defeat in the 2016 general election.



“Why didn’t they, including Mr Mahama himself, save the NDC’s ‘ship’ from sinking?” he asked.

He said he knew the NDC was going to lose, but he least expected such a massive defeat.

“I went to some places in the country prior to the elections which I’ll not mention, and I can tell you (referring to the host of the programme) that the signs were clear on the walls that, NDC was going to lose but not in that magnitude,” he said.

Mr Baffoe, who did not mince words was equally not happy with the way and manner the former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings, was treated by some former appointees of the NDC, particularly the youth, who were public office holders during both Prof Mills and Mr Dramani Mahama’s regimes.

However, he said he could not blame them much because “they were not privy to the kind of work Nana Rawlings as he called Mrs. Rawlings did during the formation of the NDC in 1992.



He pointed out that Mrs Rawlings’ exit was not good for the NDC, because of her contribution to the party.

Mr Baffoe, who said, he was introduced to former President Jerry John Rawlings through his wife, could not hide his admiration for the former first family.

He bemoaned the way politics in the country had degenerated into where insults and personality attacks have become the order of the day.

To this end, he called on the leaders of the various political parties, particularly the NDC and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), to ensure that their followers anytime respect the dissenting views of others on any national issues.

That, he said, was the only way to help move this country forward in terms of development and the respect for the rule of law.