As early as last Sunday, a minister who is so desperate to partner the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer as his running mate was in a meeting, a day after the Presidential primary of his party was held, to lobby those who came to vote during the primaries .
The minister (name withheld), who is from the Ashanti Region, is lobbying the Diasporas, especially those from the United States of America (USA) branches of the NPP, to give oxygen to his inordinate ambition of becoming a potential running mate.
At a meeting with some members of the Diaspora at his office in Accra on Sunday, the minister, a former deputy minister and was elevated to a minister, gave conscience-soothing falsities to win the hearts of those who were present.
He claimed that when he was a deputy minister, he was not offered the opportunity to speak to the media and lots of things happened without his involvement, but thanks to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, he is today a minister and therefore asking for their support because they are all from the diaspora.
The said minister once lived in the United States of America before becoming a deputy minister in the first term of the Akufo-Addo administration.
His audience at the meeting had travelled to Ghana to take part in the just-ended NPP Presidential primaries.
Interestingly, the said minister, when he was a deputy, was made the chairman of the Entity Tender Committee of his ministry, which was presiding over the flagship programme of the government.
Again, as a deputy minister he was made to have unrestricted access to the media to the extent that he touted himself as working more than his minister.
He actually became the face of the ministry’s communication, as he was the one in charge of liaising with the Ministry of Information and other communication outlets of the government.
Poor Presidential Primaries Result
The minister, who wants to partner with Dr. Bawumia desperately, could not secure a resounding victory for him in his constituency in the Ashanti Region.
Interestingly, the Regional NPP Chairman and the Regional Minister are from the same area with the ambitious minister, raising doubts if he could deliver the whole region in the future.
Several names are in the public domain as potential running mate of Dr. Bawumia, with a list emerging hours after he won the Presidential primaries.
Who Chooses Running Mate
The choice of a running mate has always been the prerogative of the Presidential candidate and no other person.
Within the NPP, the choice of the running mate for then candidate Akufo-Addo became a huge issue, as Dr. Bawumia was not the choice of some power players within the party, but candidate Akufo-Addo stuck to his guns and contested three elections with Dr. Bawumia, before winning in 2016.
It is therefore unthinkable for any desperate person to feel that the candidate could be lobbied through the Presidency and other blocs within the NPP.
