A group of National Democratic Congress, NDC, activists from Saltpond in the Central Region has backed calls for the next flagbearer of the ruling party to hail from the Northern sector of the country against former Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia.

In an interview with journalists at Saltpond recently, a group of ladies, led by Mrs. Roberta Ewura-Adjoa Abaiboo said “the claim by the women group from the Eastern region recently that the next NDC leader should come from the Northern sector makes sense because there is no way that the NPP would change Dr. Bawumia for the 2028 Presidential election. We must be wise in the selection of our next presidential candidate in order to retain power”.

“We think that only two popular NDC politicians from the Northern sector can beat Dr. Bawumia in 2028 because they are well known in every part of the country. Unfortunately, one of them, which is President John Mahama, cannot contest again because of the constitutional term limit, unless the constitution is amended. The most suitable person is the Rt. Hon. Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin and the excuse that he is likely to give is that his parliamentary duties would not permit him to be presidential candidate of NDC in 2028”.

Mrs. Roberta Ewura-Adjoa Abaiboo, who was flanked by two ladies said.

Early this month, a group of progressive women in the Eastern region has sought to shake the ruling National Democratic Congress out of any complacency that the party may have fallen into after its landslide win in the 2024 elections.

In a wake-up call, the women are asking the ruling party to start preparation toward the next election now, and that the stratagem should be to select another Northern sector popular person with a high pedigree and a national character to lead the party into the 2028 elections.

“Our position is simple – it is going to take more than His Excellency President John Mahama’s four-year mandate to fix the country. This being the case, the NDC must, in the interest of all progressives ensure that it is not taken by surprise,’’ Mrs. Emelia Darkwah, leader of the women’s group from the eastern region explained.

And in selecting the leader, she said the party’s best strategic move will be to elect a thoroughbred of the Northern sector extraction.

‘’This is how the NDC can counter Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia whom the NPP will definitely present again in 2028,’’ Mrs. Emelia Darkwah, who was flanked by several women said.

As things stand now, President John Mahama is the most prominent poster boy for the NDC with many expecting that Vice President Professor Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang will be too old to lead the party in 2028 when she would be some 75 years old.

This being the case, the NDC is sitting on a potential leadership vacuum that will develop after President John Mahama’s tenure, which may dis-orient the party if careful strategizing is not done to ensure a smooth succession from President John Mahama to the next great leader of the NDC.

According to Mrs. Emelia Darkwah and her group, getting the next best Northern sector politician is what will ensure that the NDC does not lose its fine grip on the Northern sector.

‘’we have already seen the in-roads that Dr. Bawumia made in the Savanna region in the 2024 elections, actually winning that region for the NPP. This is because he comes from there; if the NDC does elect a more compelling counterweight to Dr. Bawumia, he can very easily spread his grip from Savannah to other parts of the Northern sector.

And since the Northern sector is the NDC’s second most important stronghold after Volta, the party dares not lose its dominance by any stretch,’’ Mrs. Emelia Darkwah told journalists.

The group did not mention names but noted poignantly that, ‘’fortunately the NDC has a lot of fantastic brilliant presidential materials from the Northern sector. They should pick one and start grooming him now.’’

Meanwhile, there have been speculations that the NDC is looking at returning the party’s leadership to the South after President John Mahama who has already led the party since 2012, and would have led the party for 16 years in 2028 when he completes his last term in office as president.

From among the Southerners, national party Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketia’s name has come up strongly, along with that of Chief of Staff, Mr. Julius Debrah. Likewise, Professor Joshua Alabi, former flagbearer aspirant, Rt. Hon. Edward Doe Adjaho, chairman of the council of state, Dr. Ekow Spio Gabrah, former minister of communications and Lawyer Goosie Tanoh, former flagbearer aspirant.

However, from the Northern sector, the NDC has the likes of brilliant and hardworking Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, a celebrated Lawyer who put the Kufuor government on its toes as minority leader and admired by many Ghanaians, Education Minister, Haruna Iddrissu, Attorney General and minister of justice, Dr. Dominic Ayine, former Attorney General, Dr. Ben Kumbuor and Majority Leader Hon. Mahama Ayariga.