Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, General Secretary of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), has said he will contest for re-election as he remains the best candidate for re-organising the party ahead of the 2020 general elections.

Known by his moniker 'General Mosquito', Mr Asiedu Nketiah said having bagged two electoral victories for the NDC in 2008 and 2012 elections as General Secretary, he has the right experience to do it again for the party in 2020.

Mr Nketiah told Chief Jerry Forson on Ghana Yensom on Accra 100.5FM Wednesday, 8 August that although the NDC could not win the 2016 elections with him as General Secretary, that defeat cannot be a blot on his capabilities.

“As for the presidential race, I won’t be on the ballot paper,” he said, “but I will contest for the General Secretary position again.”

He added: “I have led the party into two major elections that we won. The 2016 elections cannot be an indictment on me.”

The NDC has set 7 December 2018 for its presidential primaries ahead of the 2020 polls.



This was announced by Mr Nketia at a press conference in Accra on Thursday, 2 August 2018.

Mr Nketia, who said the date is in line with the party’s constitution, explained that: “We have taken note of our constitutional requirement to choose our flag bearer 24 months before the next elections and the constitution, not having been amended yet, we can safely calculate our timelines from 7th December 2020, so that will bring us back to 7th of December 2018 for a choice to be made on who leads our party into the next general elections.

“Ordinarily, we would have concluded all the internal elections before opening the space for campaigning and declaration of intentions, but we realise that if we are to wait till we finish our elections by September, the time will be short for some aspirants, so on behalf of the national executive committee and on my own behalf as the Chief Executive of NDC, I wish to declare the campaign period for our presidential primaries officially opened with immediate effect.”

Mr Nketia, has directed all hopefuls to first inform the party of their intention to contest before campaigning.

He also warned the would-be aspirants to be wary of the comments they pass during the campaign and to be modest.