Mahama faces unknown contender for party ticket

Ghana president John Mahama has picked nomination forms to contest his party’s ticket for the 2016 presidential race, as he faces an unknown challenger. He picked the forms on Thursday.

But Mahama, who is being challenged by a less popular and obscure youth leader, George Boateng has predicted that he will have an easy ride over his opponent at the forthcoming November 7, Presidential and Parliamentary primaries of the party.

Vice-President, Mr. Kwesi Amissah Arthur, who picked the nomination form on behalf of his boss at the National Secretariat of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) welcomed Boateng into the race, saying that competition was good for democracy. But the party leadership differed with Arthur and has refused to acknowledge Boateng as a presidential aspirant.

Secretary-General of the NDC, Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia also applied the whip against party officials, who issued the nomination form to Boateng, as he relieved the accountant and some of his colleagues of their jobs.

He berated them for breaching the party’s rules by selling presidential nomination form without his consent. He insisted that the party hierarchy, including his office was bypassed when Mahama’s opponent bought his form.

George Boateng, a youth organizer in the NDC is unperturbed and is holding on to his ambition, despite the rejection by the party leadership. He underpinned his presidential ambition on his quest to rescue the country from its current misfortunes. Blaming Mahama for Ghana’s current economic woes, Boateng believes that the country would fare better under his watch.

Amissah Arthur Thursday declaration of Mahama’s intention to run for the second time has officially flanked off the NDC’s campaign to retain the presidential seat. Mahama became president on July 24, 2012 after President John Evans AttaMills died in office.