Dr Benjamin Kumbuor, the former Minister of Defence, has advised the leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to allow a level playing field for all presidential-hopefuls of the party.
He indicated that the NDC as a democratic party would be making a mistake “if other flag bearer aspirants were prevented from contesting former President John Mahama because he has been vice president before, he has been president before and currently, he is former President,” he recounted
According to him, former President Mahama’s stature looked different from all other entrants who might be contesting and definitely people would be more interested in him because they had interacted with him which showed the prominence that he plays but should not prevents any other persons in a democratic competitive election from contesting and expressing what they bring to the table.
The NDC on June 6, 2022 called off Dr Kwabena Duffuor, a former Governor of the Bank of Ghana’s, Ahotor project event scheduled to take place at the party’s headquarters on June 7, 2022 in Accra and was cancelled as result of some disagreements.
Dr Kumbuor asked the rank and file of the party to be mindful of what individuals were saying, as they were entitled to their own opinions but the facts were out in public space for everybody to have their view and everybody, in a democracy, were entitled to their views but as to whether their views were right or wrong was another issue.
“I guess that probably, people who are expressing that view are expressing it from their perspective and not necessarily because it reflects on the ground, people need to look at former President Mahama’s candidature in a completely different context,” he contended.
Yaw Boateng Gyan, a former National Organiser of the NDC and Member of Ahotor Project Team, in a sharp rebuttal, stated that Ofosu Ampofo, the National Chairman for the NDC, called off the project launch at the party’s headquarters in Accra and said while preparing for the relaunch, Sammy Gyamfi, the National Communication Officer of the NDC, called him and delivered a message from the National Chairman the relaunch of the project had been put on hold.