National Democratic Congress (NDC) Chairman Johnson Asiedu Nketiah has revealed that he personally intervened with President John Dramani Mahama to ensure that Haruna Iddrisu and Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak received government appointments following the party’s landmark 2024 election victory — the same figures he had controversially removed from parliamentary leadership the previous year.
Speaking in Tamale, Mr Nketiah said that after steering the NDC to what he described as one of its most dominant performances in the Fourth Republic, he made it a point to advise the President against sidelining the two seasoned politicians.
He recounted urging President Mahama to reintegrate both men into the fold, a position the President accepted. Both Haruna Iddrisu and Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak were subsequently appointed to senior roles in government.
Mr Nketiah framed the move as the natural conclusion of a strategy that was always about repositioning the party for electoral success, never about permanently marginalising individuals.
“There was hell, and people started thinking that somebody who has been my friend for more than 20 years has suddenly become my enemy,” he acknowledged, stressing that his decisions throughout the process were strictly strategic.
He also issued a firm warning against attempts to exploit the episode to create internal factions within the NDC.
“If you are forming groups — Haruna groups, Asiedu Nketiah groups — that is not our case. The NDC will continue to be one,” he declared.
Mr Nketiah’s account presents a full-circle narrative: the man who removed Haruna and Muntaka from the front line ultimately became the one who ensured they were brought back in from the cold.
