Former President John Mahama has stated that he has not decided on whether or not he will contest for the flag bearer slot of the National Democratic Congress [NDC] and ultimately lead the party into the 2024 elections.
“However, a decision will be made early next year to coincide with when the NDC will elect a flag bearer since it is good to keep your opponents guessing on which candidate will be presented.
“I haven’t and it is good to keep your opponents guessing so even if I am not running, I am not going to say I am not running so a decision will be taken early next year in the first quarter and that is when we hold our party’s primaries for the presidential candidacy and then we will see,” Former President Mahama stressed.
According to the former president, he is unperturbed if the party picks a different aspirant since the main priority is to win the 2024 polls because his country had given him so much, educated him, and made him who he is and if the party allows him to stand, he would.
Former President Mahama pointed out that the main priority was winning the election in 2024, and if the NDC decided he or someone else should stand, it would be fine with him and intimated that the party was poised and focused to wrestle power from the incumbent New Patriotic Party [NPP].
He advocated Africa to have a Marshall Plan as it sought to develop in terms of trade and economic recovery after years of slavery because it had an adverse impact on the continent hence the need for the plan in forging ahead.
“With the plan in place, right leadership, Africa can deliver to its citizens decent living, I am optimistic Africa will be the next hub for investment and business should the right conditions be put in place, I am also excited about implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area [AfCFTA] which is one of the issues I and others have advocated.
“The 11 per cent intra-trade boost between African countries is ridiculous because AfCFTA can serve as catalyst in achieving 50 per cent intra-Africa trade in the near future to enable the African continent to fully benefit from trade, happily, we have passed AfCFTA.
“The first commodities are beginning to be exchanged, shipment of tiles from Ghana going to Rwanda, shipment of tea coming from Kenya to Ghana, that is good news and we are happy it is happening now,” former President Mahama intimated.
Read Next
November 22, 2022
ECOWAS Security, Defence Ministers commit to address cross border security issues
November 22, 2022
Terrorists may take advantage of galamsey activities in our country – Kan-Dapaah
November 22, 2022
NDC’s Eastern Regional elections in limbo over injunction
November 22, 2022
England hit six past Iran
November 22, 2022
Gakpo, Klassen strike down Senegal …in Qatar World Cup Group A opener
November 22, 2022
Pres pays tribute to Prof. Kwesi Botchwey
November 22, 2022
Dorcas Afo-Toffey validly elected MP for Jomoro …Sekondi High Court rules
November 21, 2022
National Cathedral funds approved by Parliament — Ofori-Atta
November 21, 2022
Prof. Kwesi Botcwey passes on at 78
November 21, 2022
Disaster looms at Anloga-Anyanui …as sandbar blocks river channel, communities’ livelihoods in danger, town buried in sand, another disappears
The National Identification Authority [NIA] is advocating the use of the Ghana Card for identification of voters in the 2024 general elections.
According to Professor Ken Attafuah, Executive Secretary of NIA, it would be a disservice to the country if the Ghana Card was not used for identifying voters during the exercise.
He has therefore urged the Electoral Commission [EC] to work towards attaining the necessary Parliamentary approval to make the Ghana Card part of the electoral process.
He was speaking in Accra on Friday during a meeting with editors of the various media organisations.
The meeting was to update the editors on the various activities being undertaken by the Authority.
Prof. Attafuah said the NIA was ready and would be able to issue the Ghana Card to all eligible voters given the needed support.
“It will be a great disservice to Ghana should any other card aside from the Ghana Card be used for the elections.
“I think it will be a tragedy if we do not use the Ghana Card for election 2024. There is no reasonable basis in my view for that not to happen,” he added.
The Executive Secretary said the NIA have the data of 17.3 million of the population who are 15 years and above adding that a lot of the people who fall into the category of people eligible to register and vote by age 18 were already captured.
He indicated that the NIA, could within six months register an estimated two million of eligible voters who were yet to be captured in the database.
“We still have a certain margin of approximately two million eligible voters who have not registered.
If they desire to register, there is no reason why they cannot be registered within a maximum of six months and we are talking of 2024, some two clear years to the day the EC would say we are closing the registration,” Prof. Attafuah stated.
The NIA, he said, would ensure that no eligible voter was disenfranchised should the EC decide to use the Ghana Card and Parliament gives it the needed approval.
He noted that the NIA was poised to print out the cards of applicants who had registered and register new applicants as well.
On November 19, he indicated that, the NIA commenced the registration of 10,603 refugees resident in the country, adding that the Authority would register Ghanaians in the Diaspora beginning February 2023 Also, the registration of children below the age of 15 years and Ghanaians in places of detention and asylum would be done next year.