Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
A group of 118 former New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidates in the 2024 election have declared their unflinching support for former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia to lead the party in the 2028 presidential election.
The endorsement further solidifies Dr. Bawumia’s chances as he continues to enjoy support from various groups in the party ahead of the January 31 primaries.
It comes at the back of a similar endorsement by 61 NPP Members of Parliament who are all backing the former Vice President to lead the party again into the 2028 election.
The 118 former parliamentary candidates see Dr. Bawumia as “the most prepared, formidable, and winnable candidate” to lead the NPP into the 2028 general election, as it seeks to regain political power.
Addressing journalists at the International Press Centre in Accra last Thursday, leader of the group and former Deputy Minister for Energy, Andrew Agyapa Mercer, said the endorsement followed a careful scrutiny of all the five candidates contesting the party’s flagbearership, and they came to the conclusion that the former Vice President stood out.
“We have followed the campaigns of all these fine gentlemen of our party, some of whom have chalked up immense successes in business, governance, and the policy space. However, when all the key parameters required for leading our great party into the 2028 election are taken together, we are convinced that none of them match up to the pedigree, experience, competence, vision, bold ideas, humility, and compassion that Dr. Bawumia embodies today,” he indicated.
The group strongly dismissed claims that they were induced to endorse Dr. Bawumia, pointing out that their decision was taken freely in the interest of the NPP and the nation at large.
“After extensive engagements with polling station executives, electoral area coordinators, constituency executives, former executives, elders, patrons, youth groups, market women, farmers, fisherfolk, business owners, religious leaders and traditional authorities, it became overwhelmingly clear that Dr. Bawumia is the most prepared, competent and unifying figure to lead our party at this time,” Mr. Mercer said.
“This decision is not borne out of inducement or coercion. It is rooted in sober reflection and a deep sense of duty to the NPP and to Ghana,” he added.
The group further described Dr. Bawumia as a visionary leader who has demonstrated competence, integrity, humility, and an unmatched commitment to Ghana’s development.
“His contributions to digitalisation, macroeconomic interventions and infrastructure projects like Agenda 111 show clearly that he is the most consequential Vice President in the Fourth Republic. None of the other aspirants matches his combined experience, intellect and readiness to lead,” Mr. Mercer said.
Mr. Mercer added that the group’s decision is not influenced by their decision to run again, as most of them have yet to decide whether they will contest in the parliamentary primaries.
“Whether we run again or not is immaterial. This is about the future of the party and the prosperity of our country,” he added.
The group used the platform to call for unity in the party, while urging members to rally behind Dr. Bawumia to secure victory in both the primaries and the 2028 general election.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak