Politics of Friday, 27 November 2015

Source: starrfmonline.com

Mahama knows his running mate – Boamah

Communications Minister, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah Communications Minister, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah

As groups within the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) lobby John Mahama to pick their preferred choice as a running mate, Communications Minister said the president has already settled on one.

Dr Edward Omane Boamah in a Facebook post said Mahama’s “mind is clear on his choice of a running mate for the 2016 general elections.”

A group of supporters of the NDC Thursday issued a statement to Mahama to select foreign affairs Minister Hanna Tetteh as his running-mate for the 2016 elections.

According to the group, the Awutu Senya West MP will make a better vice president for the country than Kwesi Amissah-Arthur. The call comes on the back of a similar one by a group from the Volta region pushing for the candidacy of Speaker of Parliament Doe Adjaho for the veep slot.

According to Dr Boamah, Mahama will name his running mate when he meets the Council of Elders of the “great NDC Party and the National Executive Committee.” Mahama was endorsed as the presidential candidate of the NDC last weekend after garnering 95% of the total votes cast.

It will be recalled that in October, Mahama said in a Radio Ghana interview that he enjoys “working with my Vice President. As head of the Economic Planning Committee, my Vice has initiated many policy interventions to keep this country running.

“He is also good in the day-to-day running of the state anytime I’m out of the country performing functions as the head of the ECOWAS or on an official mission for the country. Mr. Amissah-Arthur really takes care of everything,” Mahama told the host Emmanuel Essel on Monday.

When asked if he will maintain Amissah-Arthur as his running mate for the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections, Mahama replied: “I think it is too early to mention my running mate even before I get elected.”

When pressed further about it, he said: “I know who he would be.”