The Member of Parliament for the Cape Coast South constituency, Kweku Ricketts-Hagan, has made known his intentions to contest in the National Democratic Congress’s primaries to elect a new flag bearer for the party ahead of the 2020 elections.

Mr Ricketts-Hagan also a former Central Regional Minister, told Chief Jerry Forson, host of the Ghana Yensom show on AccraFM 100.5 on Wednesday December 20 that : “I have made my intentions known to the leadership of the Minority in Parliament and other members and some of them have given me the go ahead. God willing if the NDC opens nominations I will contest in the primaries to become the flag bearer

“As the regional minister I practised the presidency in the region and so I have enough experience in governing people. I am an investment banker and so you can trust me when it comes to investment.

“I believe that Mr Mahama has done his part, he has played his role and the time has come for new leaders, fresh legs and fresh styles. I have a lot of respect for him but I think we need new ideas.”

In a letter he wrote to his colleague MPs, Mr Ricketts-Hagan said : “As we are presented with a new opportunity to look into strengthening and reinvigorating the future of our party, anchored on our principles and values of accountability, probity , social justice and transparency, we should all appeal to our conscience and not our sentiments to do the right thing that will invariably give us a realistic chance of wrestling back power from the NPP.

“Indeed it is for this reason that many of us have silently and thoughtfully come to the realisation that the time has come for the baton of leadership to change hands so that as a party we can continue our relay race into the future with fresh legs.

“We need to have a new vision, new start and a change in direction, in a way that is reflective of the modern aspirations of our people. These we must do dispassionately and not nostalgically, and no one with good intentions for our NDC party should be afraid of positive change as long as they are in the party to do good by serving the people and not themselves.”

Barring any last-minute change in decision, he will be contesting against Professor Joshua Alabi, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Professional Studies, Accra, Sylvester Mensah, a former Chief Executive of the National Health Insurance Authority, who have also made their intentions known.