Former Minister of Agriculture and ex-Ghana Ambassador to South Africa, Kwasi Ahwoi has said those blaming National Democratic Congress (NDC) 2020 running mate, Prof Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang for the party’s 2020 defeat in her home region lack calculation skills.

According to him, “It is the party that brings numbers, it is not really the individual”. He argued that the party’s strength reflects on the individual and not the way around, hence John Mahama’s defeat in the Central Region cannot be blamed on the 2020 running mate.

In 2020, the NDC led by John Mahama lost the Central Region to Nana Akufo-Addo despite having a running mate hailing from the region.

Nana Akufo-Addo and Bawumia polled 602,111 votes representing 52.71% while John Mahama and Prof Jane Naana polled 524,038 votes representing 45.87% of votes.

This led to criticisms that the Running Mate failed to add any value to the party despite hailing from the region.

However, Kwasi Ahwoi believes despite the party’s 2020 defeat in the region, Prof Jane Naana cannot be blamed saying “most people are not calculating things well..”.

According to him, the Central Region is not only made up of Fantes but also has Akyems, Denkyiras and Ashantes hence picking a Fante was not an automatic guarantee of votes.

“It is the party that brings numbers it is not really the individual. If the party is strong the candidate is only a reflection of the party. But specifically, she [Prof Jane Naana] also has her constituency, she can pull resources, she can pull people. Most people are not calculating things well they think we lost in the central region…” He added.

“We lost the presidential election in Central Region because of that people forget that Central Region is an amorphous region. It is not only Fantes.

"The Central Region is a combination of Ashantes, Akyems, and Denkyiras just name it so don’t look at Fante and say because Naana is a Fante she should bring Central region, no! We have to go beyond that”.