The National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer hopefuls who have since declared their intentions to lead the party into the 2020 general elections are in constant deliberations to select a stronger candidate among them to face former President John Mahama.
 According to Prime News Ghana's source, a former Communications Minister, Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Professor Joshua Alabi, a former Chief Executive Officer for the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Sylvester Mensah and 2nd Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, who are all NDC flagbearer hopefuls are in constant talks in order to strategize well to face John Mahama squarely.
Former President John Mahama, who has for several times declined to make his intention known, broke the silence on May 19, saying, he has listened to the calls of the teeming NDC members and will not disappoint them when the party presents the guidelines for selecting a new leader.
In a Facebook post on May 19, 2018, John Mahama said, “to you, the teeming supporters and sympathizers calling and requesting me to declare my intentions for the future, I wish to assure you today, that as a servant-leader, I have listened to your calls and reflected. I will not disappoint you even as we await the publication of the party’s guidelines for selecting a new leaderâ€.
Meanwhile, the former CEO of the NHIA, Sylvester Mensah, says former President Mahama is just bowing to pressure from some teeming supporters which is possibly against his will to run for the NDC primaries.
In an Interview on Accra based Starr FM,
“We have been meeting among ourselves because we appeared to be the only candidates who had declared our interest. We meet to ensure that the campaign becomes decorous and descent†he disclosed.
The revelation by Sylvester Mensah comes after a pollster, Ben Ephson, advised members of the NDC seeking to lead the party in the 2020 elections to combine forces in order to put up a competent challenge to former President Mahama at the party’s primaries.
According to Ben Ephson, it is better for the candidates to form a united ticket against their former flagbearer.
“There are five of them maybe they can decide that let’s form a ticket that one will contest and one will be running mate. The more candidates they have the more advantageous it is for Mahama. They can get talking to see if they can join forces to beat Mahama,â€Â Ben Ephson said