Although the Council of Elders of the NDC has asked President John Dramani Mahama to step in and call on all appointees who are engaged in premature campaign to contest the NDC flagbearer, to stop, the real person who has the power to act is the president, legal practitioner Kofi Bentil has said.
Kofi Bentil makes the point that the Council of Elders really does not have the power to effect any change.
The NDC Council of Elders has ordered an immediate halt to all premature presidential campaign activities within the party.
Following a meeting with President John Mahama, the Council urged members to focus on supporting the government’s Resetting Agenda and maintaining party unity, stressing that no presidential campaign should begin until the party officially announces its timetable for primaries.
Speaking on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, June 6, Kofi Bentil said, “Council of elders, although useful, but doesn’t really have the power to make any change; mostly, they advise.
“It is the president who has real power, and he can make the decision.”
Bentil told President John Dramani Mahama to take the difficult decision to let some of his appointees, whose names have come up as having an interest in the NDC flagbearer race, step aside.
He makes the point that those appointees who have presidential ambition will not focus on governance but will rather pay attention to building a bloc for themselves in the party to advance their interests.
“Make the difficult decision, let some people step aside,” he said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, June 6.
“… Everything you do is building a war chest so the work of real governance is secondary.”
In another development, Kofi Bentil said that the victory of the National Democratic Congress in the 2024 general elections had nothing to do with the changes that the National Chairman of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, made to the then minority leadership.
Kofi Bentil says that among the factors that led to the NDC’s victory, the change made to the minority leadership does not feature in the list.
Mr Asiedu Nketiah recently stated that the NDC’s 2023 parliamentary leadership reshuffle was instrumental in the party’s electoral success and also revealed that he personally recommended Haruna Iddrisu and Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak for key ministerial appointments after the NDC’s return to power in 2024.
Mr Asiedu Nketiah, during the NDC’s “Thank You Tour” in Tamale, where he defended the party’s parliamentary leadership reshuffle ahead of the 2024 elections, describing it as a crucial factor in securing victory at the polls.
Kofi Bentil said that “It is not true that the reshuffle he did was his political manoeuvring for his future. The outcome of that election had nothing to do with the reshuffling done.”
