Although former President John Dramani Mahama is yet to officially announce his intention to return to the presidential race of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) slated for somewhere in November this year, Today can report that the kingmakers of the party are not in support of his coming.

According to them, Mr Dramani Mahama has outlived his usefulness in Ghanaian politics, and for that matter, it will be suicidal for the NDC to gamble with his candidature in 2020, if the party still wants to remain relevant.

At a meeting held somewhere in Accra on Friday, March 9, 2018 which lasted for about three (3) hours at the residence of one of the top-notch members of the party, who apparently served in Mr Dramani Mahama’s government, our source said the NDC gurus who described themselves as “shakers and movers” of the party, unanimously kicked against the return of former President Dramani Mahama to lead the party in the 2020 election.

While admitting that the former president may be popular within the NDC, the source said that the NDC kingmakers were optimistic that Ghanaians will reject him “because of his [Mahama’s] failure to deal with many alleged corrupt practices which plagued his administration.”

“We cannot afford to stay in opposition for another four years so it is important Mahama gives us space to repair the damage he caused the party,” a top NDC Fante man who was at the meeting was reported to have made this remark.

Their wish, according to our source, was to see all those who caused the NDC pain in the 2016 election through their ‘dubious deals’ prosecuted by the Akufo-Addo-led administration “so that they don’t’ go out there endorsing Mr Dramani Mahama.”

A leading Ewe man of the party, who also was at the meeting, our source said, noted that Mahama’s decision to lead the party again was “politically unwise,” contending that in the event that he [Mahama] wins the 2020 election, he will have only one term, which will mean that the NDC would have to, in 2024, look for another marketable person to present to Ghanaians

That, our source said, the NDC gurus conceded, would be a difficult task, explaining that the NPP must have at that time marketed their candidate well to Ghanaians.

Few cadres who were also at the meeting, Today gathered, were equally miffed at former President Dramani Mahama for ‘hijacking’ the party through the ‘Unity Walk,’ which they said, was not part of the Kwesi Botcwey’s recommendations for the re-organisation and healing process of the party.

In fact, those who claimed they have in their possessions photocopies of the Kwesi Botcwey’s report, Today further gathered, were incensed for the simple fact that “Mr. Dramani Mahama has no shame at all after being the first President to cause the NDC such a massive and humiliating defeat.”

According to them, 20 per cent of what the Kwesi Botcwey report recommended the party to do so as to make the NDC attractive again to its grassroots supporters has not been done.

“Our supporters down there are still peeved because they have still not been told what actually caused our defeat, and if this is the way our leaders want to run the affairs of the party then we are afraid, our coming back to power will take a long time,” a cadre said.

Some NDC Members of Parliament (MPs) including some national and regional executives, who had already rooted for former President Dramani Mahama, our source said, were not spared at the meeting.

According to our source, they (these MPs, national and regional executives) were described as “bootlickers and a bunch of crooks,” who want to hide behind former President Dramani Mahama to escape attacks from the angry youth of the party.

Interestingly, the source told Today that the NDC kingmakers who attended the said meeting did not found attractive all the candidates who had publicly shown interest to lead the NDC in 2020.

But, the source said, the NDC kingmakers were comforted by the fact that in the coming months some “notable” personalities of the party will emerge to contest the party’s presidential race.

And until that happens, our source said those who pull the strings in the NDC were still in a dilemma, regarding whom amongst the already declared contestants should they endorse.

Meanwhile, Today’s checks at the Labone office of the Special Prosecutor on Thursday, March 8, 2018 indicated that some appointees of former President Mahama Dramni including his wife, Lordina Mahama, and some of the NDC’s presidential hopefuls will soon be invited for interrogation, concerning their alleged involvement in some corrupt scandals that happened during Mahama’s regime.