President John Dramani Mahama who was in the meeting himself, earlier in the day presented the name of Vice president Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, as his preferred choice for the position of running mate to partner him in the 2016 elections.
The former Governor of the Bank of Ghana was chosen in 2012 after the death of President John Mills to be the Vice Presidential candidate of the NDC.
Several names and lobbying groups emerged over the past few weeks to lobby for the likes of the Foreign Affairs minister, Hannah Tetteh and Speaker of Parliament, Edwards Doe Adjaho.
After the meeting at the party’s headquarters President John Mahama said “I’ve just come out of a meeting after holding consultations with party elders. The purpose of the meeting was to decide on the issue of the running mate.
“I consulted with the Council of Elders of the party and the national executives and we have decided on Paa Kwesi Bekoe Amissah Arthur as my Vice Presidential candidate for the 2016 elections.
“I chose him simply because he is able and willing to do the job. He has been Deputy Minister before, he has been Governor of the Bank of Ghana and has been Vice president. We went into the 2012 elections together and we are going into 2016 together.”
There have been accusations against the Mr. Amissah Arthur for not being visible enough in the public and not being seen to be working. It was on the back of some of these accusations that some party supporters were asking for him to be replaced.
Contrary to those assertions however President John Mahama has retained Mr. Amissah to partner him going into 2016.
The Mahama – Amissah Arthur ticket of the National Democratic Congress would come up strongly against the Nana Addo – Bawumia ticket of the New Patriotic Party.
By Martin Asiedu-Dartey|3news.com|Ghana
Twitter: @NewsyMartin
