Whether ex-president John Mahama should be returned as NDC’s 2020 presidential candidate appears a herculean task for the party to surmount, and it is such a tightrope Ambassador Victor James Gbeho would dare not walk.
The opposition party is seemingly divided, as one faction opposes the idea of putting him up in the next general elections, whilst the other still holds a firm belief the former president is NDC’s best bet.
In his diplomatic self, Ghana’s former Permanent Representative to the United Nations would not give in to incessant pressure from Winston Amoah, host of TV3’s Hot Issue, to take a position on whether or not John Mahama should be on the ballot in 2020 on the ticket of the NDC.
“I don’t know,” Mr. Gbevo shot back when pressed to make a public declaration in the interview aired on Saturday afternoon. For him, that decision should be left with the lawyers to determine the legality of it and the politicians to consider that option.
He stated that whether Mr. Mahama is the ideal candidate for the NDC or not is still at the consideration stage, and maintained that it would be “invidious” for him to take a side.
Even if the NDC chooses to give the former president another chance, Ghanaians would make the ultimate decision at the polls if they want him again as Ghana’s leader after about 53 months stint at the presidency.
Mr. Gbeho who is also former president of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission averred, “there is always a temptation of a candidate who loses to come back to set the record straight”. Nonetheless, Ambassador Victor Gbeho conceded, “I won’t fault him if he (Mahama) wants to come back, but it is for him alone to decide”.