Even before the National Democratic Congress (NDC) goes to the polls to elect its flagbearer for the 2020 general elections, many political analysts and observers have predicted a massive endorsement for former President John Dramani Mahama (JDM).

Now the question on the lips of everyone is “who will be the running mate for JDM if he wins the NDC presidential primary?”

Many names have popped up, among whom are any of the flagbearer contestants as well as non contestants including Ezenator Rawlings, one of the Ahwoi brothers, and other dedicated NDC members.

Whilst some pollsters are using ethnic balance as the possible determinant for the selection of a running mate for JDM, other are also basing the argument on regional balance.

As a member of the NDC and the 2016 NDC Parliamentary Candidate for Kwesimintsim Constituency in the Sekondi/Takoradi metropolis, I would also like to add my voice to the debate of who should pair with President Mahama for the 2020 presidential election if he gets the nod from the delegates.

I share the views expressed by Osahene Boakye Djan that a running mate for an obvious JDM candidature must come from the GaDangme ethnic group. I would rather go further by adding a gender factor to the ethnic factor. In other words, I sincerely believe that a woman from the GaDangme group of the NDC will be the best choice as a running mate for the 2020 general elections, and my favourite choice is Madam Valarie Sawyerr.

Valarie Sawyerr had been the Deputy Chief of Staff during both late President John Evans Atta Mills and John Mahama’ administration.

I see in her some qualities that would make her a good material for the job as the Vice President of Ghana, and even a future President. She is articulate, open-minded, fearless, well educated, and has vast international exposure and experience.

The little research I did about her on the Bloomberg website gave me more insight about her background, and I have no doubt that she can perfectly perform the duties of a Vice President of Ghana.

According to the Bloomberg, Valerie Sawyer served as a Project Principal of SRK Consulting (U.S.), Inc. and served as its Principal Environmental Consultant. She has over 20 years of experience in environmental permitting and compliance and metallurgical operations. Her environmental experience includes the management and preparation of over 25 NEPA documents, permitting of precious metals and industrial minerals mines, power lines, landfills, land transfers, and transfers of land under the Recreation and Public Purposes Act. These documents were prepared for industrial, municipal, county, and federal clients. Ms. Sawyer has managed multi-disciplinary studies for the collection of environmental baseline information for support of environmental impact statements and assessments. She has been responsible for establishing programs to assess and audit various industrial processes from an environmental perspective including chemical and petroleum storage and delivery systems. She prepared numerous Phase I ESAs or equivalent assessments to evaluate municipal and private landfills, light industrial facilities, petroleum transloading facilities, and land exchanges. Ms. Sawyer has extensive experience with water and soil sampling and analyzing the laboratory results. Her metallurgical experience includes heap leach operations and closure, milling operations, and laboratory test work. (Source: Bloomberg.com)

With these aforementioned qualities and experience, again, I think the NDC must settle on Dr. Valarie Sawyerr as the Vice Presidential Candidate to go with President John Dramani Mahama for the 2020 general elections if he wins the flagbearership contest.

With this duo at the forefront of the 2020 general elections, the NPP will hear “BOBOLEBOBO”.