It’s too early to be looking for Mahama’s successor – NDC Vice Chairman

A Vice Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Kofi Attoh has suggested that it is too early to begin to think about who succeeds the current flagbearer of the party John Mahama after his term expires.

Kofi Attoh believes the focus of all members of the party should be regaining power in 2020 with their party leader instead of figuring out who becomes his successor.

After emerging victorious in the NDC’s Presidential primaries, John Mahama will lead the NDC into the 2020 elections despite losing a re-election bid in 2016 by a margin many have described as humiliating.

Should the former President win in 2020, he will only be eligible for a 4-year term resulting in many within the party and political analysts to seeking to figure out the party’s way forward and strategies after the leadership of John Mahama.

However, in an interview with an Accra based radio station, Kofi Attoh insists by the next election in 2024, the party would have had many more people expressing interests.

He added that the opportunity to contest is not limited to only those who lost to John Mahama in the internal primaries but on the contrary, the party has many capable people who will step up when the time comes.

In the meantime, he is of the view that “why are you limiting it to 6 people? There are about 4 million people who vote for NDC, even the beautiful ones are not yet born. In the next four years when we win and we have selected our people, somebody always comes up. Do you know how Macron became President in France? Anybody who is thinking of a successor after Mahama is stretching himself a little too far. God should give us life.”

He continued, “There are so many people within the NDC to succeed John Mahama than you can think of”.

Close to 300, 000 NDC delegates in the 276 constituencies on February 23, 2019, voted John Mahama flagbearer and leader of the party to lead them into the 2020 elections.

He beat Prof Joshua Alabi, Alban Bagbin, Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Sylvester Mensah, Goosie Tanoh and Nurudeen Iddrisu to lead the party after close of polls.

John Mahama secured over 95% representing 213, 443 of the votes with the others sharing the rest of the votes.

Mr Mahama was followed by former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Professional Studies (UPSA) Prof. Joshua Alabi, who polled a total of 3,399 votes, constituting 1.516 per cent of total votes cast.

The National First Vice Chairman of the party was optimistic that the party has learnt from the fallouts of the 2016 elections and are doing their best to improve structures.



“It is not an issue of logistics, it cuts across our relationship with our own supporters on the grounds, the seeming disconnect between us in Accra and those (in other areas). It even proposed a whole reorganisation” Kofi Attoh said in the interview.

“We have up our game, we have brought in a lot of everybody else that we have been leaving out previously they have all joined the ordinary people on the grounds now,” he remarked.

When asked what the party’s message will be after re-electing John Mahama to lead their charges, the First Vice Chair disclosed, “as for specific messages for 2020, I am not in the position now to begin to tell you this is the message or that is the message”.