Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has given its flagbearer, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, additional time to select his running mate for the 2024 elections.
This follows Dr. Bawumia’s request to the party’s National Council, which has the power to make exceptions to the party’s rules.
The party’s constitution requires the vice presidential candidate to be chosen one year before elections. However, considering Dr. Bawumia’s election as flagbearer, the party leadership has waived this requirement.
The extension of time for Dr. Bawumia means the party has suspended the constitutional provision to allow for further consultation.
Speaking at the Alisa Hotel, the NPP General Secretary, Justin Kodua Frimpong, said, “In line with our constitution, particularly about Article 13 (32) ‘the vice presidential candidate shall be a known and active member at least five years and shall be nominated by the presidential candidate at least 12 months before general elections when the party is not in government or the president is not the candidate.’
He added further, “The National Council may, however, dispense with this requirement under special circumstances. From the interpretation of this article, it presupposes that today should have been the day our leader of the party and our presidential candidate should have presented his running mate to the National Council.”
“However, upon request from the presidential candidate that because his election was done on November 4, 2023, he needs a bit of time to continue with his consultation before he brings the proposed name for running mate to the National Council,” he said.
The Vice President is expected to propose a running mate, whose suitability, in terms of general appeal to the electorates, must be acceptable.
According to the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu, in an earlier interview on local radio station, JoyNews, the party had generally agreed that the running mate for the newly elected flagbearer would be chosen from the Ashanti Region.
This, the Bekwai MP had said, is the only solution to the party winning the 2024 general election.
Meanwhile, names like Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh (Energy Minister), Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum (Education Minister), and Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu (Majority Leader), who have been rumoured as frontrunners, will be juggling their chances against others like John Ampontuah Kumah, Deputy Finance Minister and Member of Parliament for Ejisu, and Deputy Minister of Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, whose names have been making the rounds as well.
There has even been mention of Chief of Staff, Madam Akosua Frema Osei-Opare.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri