The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has downplayed the capacity of vice president Dr Mahamudu Bawumia in pushing the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to retain power in the December presidential election.

General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, in rejecting assertions that Dr Bawumia has become a torn in the flesh of his party, said the vice president has messed up his reputation which was once held in high esteem by some people.

In his view, any decision by the NPP to choose Dr Bawumia as their running mate will be to the advantage of John Mahama who is seeking to win back power from Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in the 2020 polls.

“We don’t believe that Mahamudu Bawumia is a torn in NDC’s flesh. In fact the way he has messed his own reputation up, it will be very advantageous for us if he gets the slot to be running mate of NPP and he will be a very easy candidate to deal with,” Mr Asiedu Nketia stated on The Key Points on TV3 Saturday.

The man popularly known as General Mosquito made the comments when asked by the show host if the NDC was considering someone who could equal Dr Bawumia, who played a key role in Akufo-Addo’s candidature in the run up to the 2016 elections.

For Mr Asiedu Nketia, the ex-deputy governor of the Bank of Ghana has since becoming a vice president “created a certain perception about himself”.

That, he contended, will make it “very easy for us [the NDC] going into the campaign if any running mate of NDC have to contend with Dr Mahamudu Bawumia”.

“All his records are there; whatever he says and so on,” he indicated.

Akufo-Addo picks Bawumia again

President Akufo-Addo who is seeking re-election to do four more years was the only candidate picked and file nomination for the presidential primary of the NPP which was fixed for April 15.

Addressing a crowd of party faithfuls after filing his nomination forms at the NPP headquarters in Accra on February 20 this year, Nana Akufo-Addo announced he will maintain Dr Mahamudu Bawumia as his running mate for the 2020 presidential election in December.

It will be the fourth time the President will be pairing with the astute economist to go into presidential election on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Nana Akufo-Addo said the choice of Dr Bawumia was an easy one to make, and stated it was not something that required thorough thinking.



“The Party rules require that once you are declared flagbearer, you have to choose a running mate. This is not something to think about. Once I’m declared the flagbearer, this same man will be my running mate; Mahamadu Bawumia will be my choice” he said to a loud cheer from the crowd.

He added: “still maintained, no change. No curve, no bend. We are moving on forward”.