I will be NDC flagbearer by January 2019 – Sylvester Mensah

Former National Health Insurance Authority [NHIA] Chief Executive Officer, Sylvester Mensah has made his intentions clear to become the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) saying he is the most competent for the top job.

According to him, the changes throughout the constituency level during the recent constituency elections will reflect at the regional and subsequently at the National level of the party.

The former NHIA boss revealed that he is the most competent individual in the NDC to lead the party going into the 2020 elections. He stated emphatically that by January 2019 after the NDC Presidential primaries, he would have been elected as the new Flagbearer of the party.

“The mood in the party today is for change, Change has occurred throughout the constituency elections, we expect to see a lot more changes in our regional elections and a lot more at the National elections and then we will be plunging into the Presidential primaries”

“I will be happy to meet with you sometime in January when I will be flagbearer of the NDC and have a chat with you about the visioned future of the country,” he told the host of Citi TV’s Face to Face Godfred Akoto.

The former Presidential Staffer in the erstwhile John Mahama administration also admonished the NDC to go back to their roots as a political party that familiarizes itself with the ideals of social democrats.

He further revealed that his passion for the youth of the country as well as the aged puts him in pole position as the next flagbearer of the opposition NDC.

“Ghana is in a hurry. I have a passion for the youth of this country; my passion for the aged is unmeasurable. We need to deepen our credentials as social democrats. We [NDC] have wasted too much time without establishing ourselves as true social democrats. The time is now, Ghana cannot wait.

Mr. Mensah also mentioned that he stands tall amongst all his potential competitors in the NDC flagbearership race including his former boss John Dramani Mahama and the second deputy Speaker of Parliament Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin.

He explained that he is a founding member of the NDC and a far more senior member of the party than his competitors are.

“Of all the names that you have mentioned, I am the most senior member of the party when it comes to seniority within the party, none of the names you have mentioned can claim to have been part of the formation of the party.”

“I did not join the NDC as most of them did. I was part of the formation of the NDC as a political party. I became a member of the first regional executives of the party”

The former NHIA boss explained that the NDC under former President lost the 2016 elections because his government failed to provide hope to Ghanaians, adding that Ghana needs a new leader with a new vision for the country.

He also described the recently held ‘Unity walk’ exercises organized by the NDC as “totally unnecessary” saying that the exercise was not aimed at uniting the party, but was rather for John Mahama’s political advantage.