A former Defence Minister and stalwart of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr. Benjamin Kunbour has clarified that Goosie Tanoh, a founding member of the party, has not hinted of contesting for the party’s flagbearer position in the 2024 general elections, as is being speculated.
In an interview with Dr Kunbour said “the issue on who becomes flagbearer has never been raised. I’ve known Goosie, he has never given any indication that he intends to succeed John Mahama. When I started hearing this, I said to myself, let’s be careful about profiling people. Very soon, it might shift to Bagbin, Sylvester Mensah or even Alabi. Even if you have a suspicion, you don’t make it an issue now.”
Dr. Kunbuor, together with other NDC bigwigs like Dan Abodakpi, took part in a meeting organised by the Democratic Platform Initiative, a group affiliated with the party, on Saturday, April 17, 2021, where they discussed the party’s challenges and the path towards reorganisation ahead of the 2024 polls.
Goosie Tanoh, who unsuccessfully contested the NDC’s flagbearer race ahead of the 2020 polls, was one of the main speakers at the programme.
After the event which had no NDC national executive or the party’s flagbearer in the previous polls, John Mahama in attendance, many were of the view that it was part of an agenda to promote another Goosie Tanoh as the preferred choice for flagbearer ahead of the 2024 elections.
But Dr. Kunbour said the presence of Mr. Tanoh at the meeting was not out of place as “he has always been a member of the party.”
“This is what most people do not remember. When the NDC was being formed, we had some capacity deficits. We needed technical inputs to guide the campaign which was on an uncharted course. So we set up a research centre called the Forum. I was there, Goosie was there too as well as Larry Adjetey among others. That was the first serious technical and research office. That was what provided the critical base for a new political party that had never contested elections before.”
He further indicated that the NDC Democratic Platform is meant to push the general wellbeing of the party and not to promote personal interests.
“This is not the first time an interest group within the NDC has met. We do it from time to time. Our group can be traced to the Forum. It is this same group that issued a statement advocating against the brutalities during the “kumi preko” era.”
Meanwhile, the former Eastern Regional Minister in the erstwhile NDC government, Antwi Boasiako Sekyere, who was also at the said meeting has clarified that the agenda of the meeting was not to push for a 2024 flagbearer candidate.
