Mahama's running mate: Will it be Botchwey, Duffuor or Awhoi?

The NDC is witnessing a prolonged debate as to who is best placed to be the Running Mate to the 2020 flagbearer, former President John Mahama, as the date for that announcement is reportedly shifted to the first quarter of next year. As of now, discussions within the top echelons of the party has largely centered on choosing either an elderly personality of the party to run with the Presidential Candidate or select a younger person to partner him.

Those who favor an elderly person to be the Running Mate have limited themselves to three senior party elders who do not have the ambition to seek the Presidency, after Mahama’s term ends in 2024. The names of Dr. Kwesi Botchwey, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor and Mr. Kwesi Ahwoi, all in their 70s, have consequently been put forward for consideration by the former President.

However, those who prefer a younger person as a Vice Presidential Candidate have an extensive list of former appointees including Mr Julius Debrah, Prof Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketsia, Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah-Opong, Ms Hannah Tetteh, Mr Emmanuel Kofi Armah Buah, Mr. Oppong Fosu, Mr. Eric Opoku, Mr. Alex Kofi Mensah Mould, Mr. Kingsley Kwame Awuah Darko, Dr. Johnson Asiamah, Prof Joshua Alabi, Dr Spio Gabrah and Sylvester Mensah.

The arguments put forward by those in favor of selecting an elderly person rely heavily on the need for integrity and stability among the rank and file of the party, after the announcement is finally made. And that all those who were Running Mate hopefuls will have to surrender to the elderly comrade and realign themselves to the course of the party. The proponents desire to see an era of total commitment to the flagbearer and his Running Mate with all energies and resources being channeled towards the 2020 campaign. This argument is anchored with the perception, that flagbearer hopefuls and other persons nursing presidential ambitions in the NDC will not give their utmost industry, if President Mahama chooses a younger Running Mate who will have an advantage in a future Presidential race. Therefore, they estimate that it will be in the bigger interest of the party to choose an elderly person whose political ambition will end with the John Mahama presidency, such that the NDC presidential primaries in 2023 will be an open and leveled playing field for any deserving person. This strategy is the sum of keeping a very united base without any person or section working clandestinely against the Mahama 2020 bid.

The contrasting arguments presented by those who prefer a younger person, capture the need to appeal to the youth and have a succession plan for the party, enabling a smooth takeover in 2024.

The Socialist Intelligential will in this epistle, therefore, beam some light on the three elders proposed.

Dr Kwesi Botchwey

A former Finance Minister, who resigned from office in the 90s to pick up lecturing jobs in Canada and the United States, returned to Ghana with Presidential ambitions and once contested for the NDC flagbearership, but was defeated by the Late Prof J.E.A Mills. Dr. Kwesi Botchwey left the country after that Congress and returned to pick up appointment as the Chairman of the Ghana Gas project. He was the Board Chairman of the now defunct Heritage Bank which the Bank of Ghana has indicted on some controversial grounds. But he was not personally cited for any wrong doing.

After the 2016 election defeat, Dr. Botchwey was given the head role for the committee that was set up to inquire into the reasons accounting for the defeat. This appointment by the party gave a refreshing political life to the man who in 2014 attracted the scorn of party faithfuls for publicly clashing with the then President Mahama in a letter he released to the press, rejecting a Cabinet decision to dissolve his board of directors at Ghana Gas. The work of the Kwesi Botchwey Committee enabled him to tour the countryside, meeting party members and effectively erasing disenchantment against him for endorsing the attacks of Dr. Mahamoud Bawumia on the Mahama government in 2016.

The Dr. Kwesi Botchwey for the 2020 Running Mate position is currently being engineered by Dr Edward Omane Boamah, a close confidant and advisor to ex-President Mahama and also someone nursing presidential ambitions. The argument is that with his finance background as his asset, Dr. Botchwey can be made to hold public lectures on the economy and expose the NPP’s propaganda.

On the other hand, observers are worried about his relationship with former President Rawlings who recently at Ejisu launched subtle attacks on him at a Cadres Conference.

More so, the appointment of Dr. Botchwey, another Fante from the Central Region, will not excite party faithful who have grown fatigued with having a personality from that Region on the NDC ticket, since 1992. There is no immediate testament that the Dr. Botchwey candidacy for Vice President will bring the Central Region along for the John Mahama 2020 campaign.

Dr Kwabena Duffuor

A former Governor of the Bank of Ghana during the tenure of President Jerry John Rawlings, he is also a former Finance Minister who served the Late President Atta Mills and later President John Mahama. He is currently the founder and president of the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) an economic policy think-tank, he established in 2013.

The name Dr. Kwabena Duffuor came to public attention once again, when the NPP government went ahead and collapsed Unibank Ghana Limited, a bank that he owned. Observers are therefore worried that the collapse of his bank is an indictment on his management capabilities. However, public records show that he rescinded his managerial role in the bank, since he returned to public service in 2009, and never played any direct role in the operations of the bank until its collapse. The collapse of Unibank notwithstanding, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor as a businessman is said to own and hold shares in a number of companies enabling him to remain a force to reckon with.

Politically, the choice of Dr. Duffuor as a Running Mate, will change the political dynamics and threaten the NPP votes in Ashanti region, because he is a son of Ashanti and one of the region’s success stories. Already, He managed to secure his home constituency, Sekyere Affram Plains for the NDC, with his younger brother being the Member of Parliament. There is an argument that the NDC must learn to compete in the Ashanti Region for at least 35% of the votes as cast, in order to secure victory in 2020. And Duffuor may likely present that unique opportunity since the Ashanti Region currently has over 3 million registered voters.

Dr. Duffuor comes to the Running Mate table with his stellar records as Finance Minister which are stronger than the indicators under Dr. Bawumia as head of the economic management team. Also, party elders tell of his ability to get President Rawlings back on the NDC campaign trail in 2020.

Of the three, Duffuor is tipped to be much of gravitas in helping President Mahama raise funds for the campaign because of his appeal among the business and banking sector of Ghana.

Kwesi Ahwoi

The second of the Ahwoi brothers who have been colossus in the NDC party since its inception. A former Minister of Interior and also Agric Minister under Late Professor Mills, Mr Kwesi Ahwoi is a former head of the Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC) and also the man who was once in charge of the defunct CashPro, a cocoa purchasing firm.

With excellent managerial skills Mr. Kwesi Ahwoi has gotten several political appointments. The last was, when he was made an Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa, by President Mahama.

Ambassador Kwesi Ahwoi had in 2011 tried to become the NDC Parliamentary Candidate for Agona East, in a fierce contest with the then Constituency Women Organiser. His Excellency Ahwoi was beaten by the Constituency Women Organiser, Queenstar Pokua Sawyer by a very slim margin. However, that contest is not a litmus test of the political strength of the former ambassador. He continues to be a bright spot and a powerful point of influence within the NDC.

Unlike Dr. Botchwey and Dr Duffuor, the focus of a possible Kwesi Ahwoi Vice Presidential candidacy will largely be on industrializing Ghana’s agric sector into continental prominence. There is an argument that Ambassador Kwesi Ahwoi has greater popularity in the Western Region which extends into the Central Region more than Dr. Kwesi Botchwey. Avid supporters of the Kwesi Ahwoi Vice Presidency argue that he is NDC’s trump card to revitalize Ghana’s agric economy.