Host of Good Evening Ghana programme on Metro TV, Paul Adom-Otchere has narrowed the flagbearership race in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to two candidates.
The two are outgoing Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen and Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia.
Adom-Otchere in an analysis on the January 11 edition of his show explained that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo held a unique opportunity of deciding which of the two men succeeds him as flagbearer and ultimately president after the 2024 polls.
After outlining the chances of Alan Kyerematen as a candidate of the NPP, hours after he had formally declared his intention to contest for the flagbearership, Adom-Otchere pointed out that the president’s support could prove key in the race.
“Nana Akufo-Addo stands in unique position to make a decision about his regent. People who are close to people who are close to the president, say that he may be more tickled with the opportunity to secure a new image for the party. If that is true, then president Akufo-Addo will back Dr. Bawumia.
“If, however, he thinks conservatively, then he will back Alan Kyerematen on the basis that Alan has come second to him in all of the three primaries prior to his elevation to the throne,” he stressed.
The new image referred to above is of the fact that the NPP which has traditionally picked presidential candidates from the Asante or Akyem areas will have the novel opportunity of fielding a northerner in the person of Dr. Bawumia.
Both the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the NPP are expected to elect their flagbearers ahead of keenly-awaited 2024 elections.
John Dramani Mahama is seen as a frontrunner to lead the NDC for a third successive bid as candidate.
In the case of the NPP, aside from Alan and Bawumia, former Minister of Agric Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Assin Central Member of Parliament Kennedy Agyapong and former General Secretary Kwabena Agyepong are some of the candidates expected to contest for the slot.
