The vice-presidential running mate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, was out-doored by the opposition NDC on Wednesday, 24 April 2024 at a ceremony held at the University for Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), essentially sealing the opposition party’s ticket for the 2024 general elections.
In her acceptance speech, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang among several other claims, pointed out that she will not consider herself a driver’s mate to the NDC’s presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama, if they win the 2024 elections and form the next government.
The shade, according to several political analysts, was in direct reference to a statement made by Vice President and presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahama Mahamudu Bawumia, who has stated that as Vice President, he was a “driver’s mate” to President Akufo-Addo.
“I will share in our collective successes and share responsibility for our setbacks if any. And at the time of reckoning, Your Excellency John Mahama, I will not in advancement of self-serving ambition declare to the whole world that I was only the driver’s mate,” Prof Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang stated in her acceptance speech at the ceremony to officially outdoor her.
However, the jab by Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, even though may have been directed at the presidential candidate of the NPP, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, appears to contradict a similar position that was articulated by the NDC 2024 presidential candidate, John Mahama, when he was the sitting President and was contesting for reelection in 2012.
“The NDC government has done a lot in four years. Our constitution gives presidents two terms. Take it that I am the “spare driver” or “caretaker”. Prof Mills of blessed memory started the process and I am finishing his unexpired term. I believe the NDC government deserves a second term to be able to build on the foundation that it has laid in these four years.
“I am certain that Ghanaians will vote for me and turn me from the “spare driver” that I have been described as into the actual driver leading us to our destination,” former President John Mahama said in his closing remarks at an IEA Presidential Debate held in Accra, Wednesday 21 November 2012.
What appears to be the point of departure is the fact that former President Mahama, in 2012 used the words “spare driver”. Vice President and presidential candidate of the NPP, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, on the other hand, used the words “driver’s mate” and the NDC 2024 running mate, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, in her jab, also chose to use the words “driver’s mate”.
However, what is clear is that both Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia and former President John Mahama, while they served in office as Vice Presidents, acknowledged that they were not in the actual driving seat but were in the case of John Mahama, a “spare driver” to President John Evans Atta Mills and in the case of Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, a “driver’s mate” to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, who is yet to serve in the position as Vice President, seems to disagree with her boss John Dramani Mahama, and with the man she and her boss are hoping to beat in the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
Source: Asaaseradio.com
