Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson
11 August 2008
With only a week to the ruling NPP's congress to announce a running mate, the party is no closer, according to insiders, of settling on any of the names that have been hogging the media headlines these past few months. The National Democratic Congress (NDC), two months ago settled on the highly charismatic John Dramani Mahama to run with Professor John Atta Mills.
It was met with broad public approval. Attention is also being turned on the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), which is promising a robust showing in December.
Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, the Presidential Candidate of the CPP has been busy selling his party's manifesto around the country and is in confident mood like the other presidential candidates to move into the Flagstaff House in December. Last week he told the ADM that the CPP is considering a number of names as his running mate for the December elections.
He said there are a "number of worthy people who are being considered, some I will name and others I will not - Prof. Abubakar Alhasan, Prof. Agyeman Badu Akosah, Dr. Kwaku Osafo, Dr. Abu Sakara and Dr. Kwabena Dufour, former Governor of the central bank. There are also three women who are being looked at because they are not obviously in the political scene now."
He said "the CPP is a national party that will choose a running mate informed by the dictates of ethnicity, tribe or religion....no...not at all, the main criteria is somebody who can be president in his or her own right... we have always been a national party, we have broadly and widely appealed to Ghanaians all over... so we do not have religious or ethnic considerations in any of this."
Dr. Nduom told the ADM in a telephone with the interview that "once the CPP comes up with a decision, that person will be well liked, that person will be somebody that we ourselves will feel comfortable with, therefore that person will be very, very competitive as far as the other people in the race are concerned.".
Dr. Nduom would not disclose his preference among the names listed. He told ADM: That I cannot say, the names are there, they are being reviewed and at the right time, the team will come out with some finalist who will then be interviewed, and then the choice will be made."
The CPP Presidential Candidate said his priorities as president among other things are set in his "Ten Point Agenda For Change" line of action introduced by the CPP.
"Those are the things I am going to concentrate on. I want a clean Ghana... I want to beautify Ghana...I want to make our environment a healthy one and so in my first one hundred days I want to make a mark...cleaning the country, ridding it of filth and removing standing waters, making sure that those diseases that are preventable like malaria, cholera, guinea worm are eliminated in addition to those that you find in the "Ten Point Agenda" he said.
On the proposed alliance between the CPP and the Peoples National Convention (PNC) he said, "We only had a consideration for the PNC for an alliance. The PNC after agreeing and indeed after Dr. Mahama agreeing to be my running mate, went back and decided that they want to reconsider it.
They have said that they would like to talk again, I have not heard from them.We have always believed that this is the time for the CPP to become stronger, competitive and to win, that is what we are concentrating on.
I believe that in time all who belong to the CPP will find their way back to the party."
Dr. Nduom told ADM that he was optimistic for a "One touch win" in December but said " in the event of a run-off somebody will have to answer your question, because we will be there as one of the two parties in a run-off , so someone else will have to answer that question for you."
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