A former Kumasi Mayor, Kojo Bonsu, believes the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), stands a better chance of winning the 2024 elections if someone like him is fielded as the flagbearer.
He says John Mahama, whose personality and image has been severely battered, will run it into a ditch once again if he’s allowed to lead the party.
Commenting on the chances of the NDC with John Mahama as its flagbearer for the 2024 polls, Kojo Bonsu said it will only take a candidate like him if the NDC is determined to recapture power from the NPP administration because Mr. Mahama is currently not fit for purpose.
Mr. Bonsu argued that John Mahama’s reputation is now in tatters and will therefore not be a marketable candidate for the NDC going forward.
“I stand a better chance than Mahama because I have not been soiled, so that is where I come in. It’s so sad, he is a great gentleman, speaks very well, very affable, but he has been put in the mud so much. They have tagged him with corruption, women’s affairs, and we the NDC have not been able to defend it and get him out of it”, he said on Citi TV‘s lifestyle show, Upside Down.
He partly blamed the party for doing too little to clean the mud on Mahama, thereby affecting the party’s political fortunes.
“We should have redeemed him long ago, but he doesn’t have a chance now. Let’s bring in someone fresh so that the swing voters wouldn’t have anything to say against President Mahama. I stand a better chance than Mahama because I have not been soiled, so that is where I come in.”
“If the party had corrected this, we wouldn’t have come to this level. If we want to win the 2024 elections, I think let’s bring someone like me. I am eligible to do it. It’s not an issue of fighting Mahama, insulting the former President, or doing anything, but the situation we find ourselves in, let’s try someone new and see if it will work.”
The former Chief Executive Officer of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly says his desire to run for President on the ticket of the NDC should not be misconstrued as hatred for Mr. Mahama because he genuinely does not have anything personal against him.
“There is a vacancy and that is why we are all contesting the seat. It is democracy and our party believes in democracy, so we don’t push people on people to take over. We don’t want that. So if one is given the chance, and he wins it, he will do the job. So it is fair we all do it. One other reason I am contesting is not that I hate President Mahama. No….why? What has he done to me? He was [a great President] but his time became a problem.”